If Brett Kavanaugh’s ascension to the Supreme Court depends on whether he could be proved guilty of sexual assault in a court of law, at least with what we know now, then he will be wearing the robes soon. The current “limited” FBI investigation shapes up to be as perfunctory as the Senate hearing.
But this is not a court of law. We’re deciding whether to hire this guy into the Supreme Court, where thoughtful discourse and interpretation of the U.S. Constitution should be the standard of behavior, even when justices don’t agree. Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg were best friends. Kavanaugh? A Supreme Court Justice? He shouted his testimony at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, interrupting his questioners and at one point badgering a senator about what SHE likes to drink. His scripted testosterone was exceeded only by red-faced screamer Lindsey Graham, a one-time Trump critic who has reinvented himself into a fire-eating, true-believer. When Kavanaugh wasn’t refusing to answer whether he’d welcome an investigation, he sniffled into the microphone, a man reduced to tears by the injustice of it all. No, his family shouldn’t have to go through this, any more than Christine Blasey Ford’s family. I’m sure it was wrenching for him to talk with his daughter. But there’s a pattern with him — he brought this on himself. In that hearing room, he seemed fully capable of uncontrollable rage, swift swings of emotion and drinking to excess, if not more. As he acted out his testimony, we saw a bully, accused by three women, his dark background clouds all falling into place -- the creepy yearbook posts, his shorthand calendar items related to partying, the unflattering descriptions of his drinking bouts by several classmates of his Yale years, his previous little lies before the Senate committee, best friend Mark Judge’s book called Wasted, and so on. To put into common-sense, real-life terms — all of us have applied for jobs, and lots of us have hired people into jobs. Is Kavanaugh’s behavior what we look for in an entry-level clerk, much less a Supreme Court Justice? And set politics aside. Most Democrats didn’t like Justice Neil Gorsuch’s legal views, either, but he is wearing the robes because he didn’t present Kavanaugh’s troubling behavior. No matter where the FBI ends up in its “limited” investigation, I wouldn’t hire this guy. For anything. -- Paul A Metairie Indivisible
0 Comments
|
Archives
March 2020
Categories |