Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard the saga of Brett “100 kegs or bust” Kavanaugh. Aside from his politics and judicial practices, we believe there are a number of worrying factors which mean his nomination should be pulled from consideration.
Kavanaugh lied under oath regarding innocuous questions, the credible allegations of sexual assault and his unprofessional “performance” in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Despite what you think of the allegations, you can at least admit there are a number of a qualified judicial candidates that don’t come with a handful of question marks and red flags.
Throughout his remarks, Kavanaugh displayed a visceral anger, lashing out at any question he deemed unfair. His attitude may be righteous if allegations prove false, but his anger was over the top, misdirected and not befitting a Supreme Court Justice.
At one point, he proceeded to blame a plot by the Clintons for the allegations, a plot which would have had to begin years ago when Christine Ford first told an acquaintance about the alleged assault. Kavanaugh proceeded to blame an animus toward president Trump for the allegations popping up. If this was so, why were there no such allegations against Neil Gorsuch who was a nominated and confirmed under the presidents watch?
All of this to say, Kavanaugh does not posses the temperament nor the lack of partisanship necessary for the Supreme Court. How can one expect a judge to rule justly if they threaten democrats by saying “what goes around comes around” in their opening remarks.
One of the more remarkable moments occurred when Kavanaugh responded to a fair question from Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) regarding whether he had ever blacked out from drinking with a condescending “have you?” This answer came after Klobuchar prefaced her questioning by mentioning her own father’s struggle with alcoholism. When pressed again on his drinking habits and if it was even possible he had blacked out from drinking, he proceeded to talk about how much he loved beer and still loves beer.
Even if the allegations are proven false, we believe Kavanaugh still should not be confirmed due to his behavior, which was inexcusable under any amount of pressure.
Furthermore, throughout the questioning, Kavanaugh made a number of misleading, if not untruthful statements. He said he and his friends “sometimes got together and had parties on weekends. The drinking age was 18 in Maryland for most of my time in high school, and was 18 in D.C. for all of my time in high school. I drank beer with my friends.” However, it is important to note that before he turned 18, the drinking age in Maryland was raised to 21. This intentional misleading of answers proved to be a hallmark of his time being questioned.
In another instance, Kavanaugh claimed that he and his accuser, Christine Ford did not occupy the same social circles. This is problematic as Ford stated numerous times that she knew Kavanaugh and dated one of his friends in the spring and summer preceding the alleged assault. This friend is mentioned numerous times in Kavanaugh’s own calendars from the time period of the alleged assault.
The role of the supreme court is to exist above and beyond the political scuffles which have begun to dominate our daily lives. The court does this by insulating itself from partisanship and by maintaining a focus on the truth. Kavanaugh’s political spectacle last week does not pass this threshold and is grounds for pulling his nomination immediately, regardless of the results of the FBI investigation.
