Cramer opines on Trump's Supreme Court pick: He'd be a 'subtle, but long-lasting win' for businesses
- CNBC's Jim Cramer unpacks what Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh will mean for the stock market.
- The "Mad Money" host says Kavanaugh's opinions on regulation make him a "subtle win" for U.S. businesses.
CNBC's Jim Cramer understands the controversy inherent in President Donald Trump's nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
"If you’re pro-choice, there’s no way to accept Brett Kavanaugh with a smile on your face," the "Mad Money" host acknowledged. "But my job is to help you become a better investor, and purely in terms of the stock market, I think the pick is a subtle, but long-lasting, win."
From a business standpoint, Kavanaugh's nomination was all about deregulation and scaling back the power of government agencies, Cramer argued on Tuesday.
Having read Kavanaugh's decisions on things like net neutrality and the Affordable Care Act, Cramer classified the longtime lawmaker as "deeply suspicious of non-elected regulators who take sweeping actions" he sees as being beyond their purview.
And when it comes to the business community, Kavanaugh, a judge in the District of Columbia's Court of Appeals, can deliver what most U.S. executives want, the "Mad Money" host said.
"Corporate executives want two things: they want predictability and the ability to run their companies without undue interference from regulators," Cramer explained. "Kavanaugh is going to give these businesses exactly what they want. He’ll be viewed as a judge who keeps regulators on a short leash, strictly interpreting only what the Congress has asked them to do and nothing else."
But the stock market might not feel the effects of having a right-wing judge on the Supreme Court for some time, Cramer said.
In other words, Kavanaugh's nomination is not a reason for investors to go out and buy stocks today.
"But over the longer term, this pick does suggest a solid conservative block on the Supreme Court that will favor corporations over regulation and smaller government over bigger government," the "Mad Money" host said.
"That creates a level of judicial certainty that I believe will make it easier to pick stocks, even if you hate the direction this court is going with every fiber of your being," he continued. "I say you don’t have to like it to profit from it."
Cramer added that adding Kavanaugh to the nation's highest federal court could make investors pay more for stocks over time as companies benefit from less government intervention.
"That gives executives the predictability they crave," he said. "For lack of a better term, this is a pro-business appointment."
Kavanaugh has drawn criticism from both sides of the political aisle for his writings outlining the case for former President Bill Clinton's impeachment and his tenure in former President George W. Bush's administration.
In the coming weeks, the nominee will meet with and lobby senators ahead of his confirmation vote. Senate Democrats including Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have already announced their opposition to Kavanaugh's nomination.