In the op-ed which attempts to explain, if not exactly apologize for, his behavior before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Kavanaugh shows yet again that he doesn’t understand judicial temperament and doesn’t understand the responsibilities of a Supreme Court justice. “I hope everyone can understand that I was there as a son, husband and dad,” he wrote.
No, he wasn’t. He was there as a potential justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. To hell with his feelings. This was about the nation and its laws, not about how butt hurt he is about being accused of sexual assault, even if—and this is two gigantic monsters of an if—even if he has been falsely accused and can be 100 percent sure of that because he really never blacked out while drunk. There’s a mountain of evidence saying he was routinely drunk enough to be uncertain of his memories, a mountain of evidence saying he lied about that fact, and a sizable hill of evidence saying he did commit sexual assault, but that’s not even the point. The point is that he interviewed for the Supreme Court as a partisan rager because of his hurt feelings, and that is not judicial temperament. Which is why so much of the legal profession is up in arms about him right now, up to and including a Republican former Supreme Court justice.
Kavanaugh again trots out the insistence that “a good judge must be an umpire—a neutral and impartial arbiter who favors no political party, litigant or policy.” In his testimony, he showed repeatedly and in more than one way that that is not how he operates. He showed it when he raged against Democrats, he showed it when he refused to embrace a full investigation, he showed it when he evaded and lied. Umpire? The better sports metaphor for the person Kavanaugh showed himself to be might be an ice hockey brawler. Or maybe just an MMA fighter.
Brett Kavanaugh thinks Brett Kavanaugh is a pretty good guy. Yippee for him. He hasn’t showed the temperament or judgment required of a Supreme Court justice.
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