The Case of Brett Kavanaugh
W.J. Astore President Trump's latest nominee for the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh, has been accused of sexual assault as a teenager. Of course, I have no idea if Kavanaugh is guilty of this charge, and I doubt if such a charge could be proved beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. Kavanaugh's accuser (her name is Christine Blasey Ford) says he was "stumbling drunk" when he assaulted her; Kavanaugh denies the accusation. Indeed, he claims he wasn't even at the party when the alleged assault occurred. Supporters of Kavanaugh are already dismissive of the accuser and disparage her motives for coming forward (consider this mocking and reprehensible post by Donald Trump Jr.). Naturally, those who are opposed to Kavanaugh are motivated by their animosity against him to believe the accuser even before she's testified. So it goes in hyper-partisan America. A hearing is scheduled for Monday, September 24th; both Kavanaugh and his accuser will testify. I imagine both will seem credible. And people watching will probably see what they already believe. I'm opposed to Kavanaugh's nomination, but I was opposed before this assault accusation was revealed. My opposition is idiosyncratic. To me, Kavanaugh comes across as a toady to men in power. He praised Trump for the allegedly exhaustive process that led to his nomination. He's led a life of insularity and privilege, from expensive private prep schools to the Ivy League (Yale and Yale Law School) to the usual clerkships and appointments. Strong political partisanship in favor of Republicans has characterized much of his career in the law. From his Wiki biography: As an attorney working for Ken Starr, Kavanaugh played a lead role in drafting the Starr Report, which urged the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Kavanaugh led the investigation into the suicide of Clinton aide Vince Foster. After the 2000 U.S. presidential election (in which Kavanaugh worked for the George W. Bush campaign in the Florida recount), Kavanaugh joined the administration as White House Staff Secretary and was a central figure in its efforts to identify and confirm judicial nominees. His hyper-partisanship and especially his toadying before Trump make him unsuitable as a Supreme Court justice. Indeed, Trump seems to have selected him over other conservative candidates because Kavanaugh believes a sitting president can't or shouldn't be indicted, a stance that's quite attractive to Trump, who prefers spineless yes-men. We need Supreme Court justices who uphold the law without being deferential to the powerful. We further need justices with more than a measure of compassion for the weak. From all I've read and seen, Kavanaugh won't be that kind of justice, so I'm opposed to his nomination. Next Monday's hearing, and Kavanaugh's ultimate fate, will likely further divide America along political and gender lines. Once again, sadly, the Trump administration has found fresh ways to divide rather than to unite us. Update (9/19): The Monday hearing is in jeopardy as Kavanaugh's accuser calls for an FBI investigation. Meanwhile, Kavanaugh's supporters have come up with a strategy to defuse the sexual assault charge, as reported in the New York Times today:
Mr. Trump’s advisers and Judge Kavanaugh’s allies appeared to be settling on a strategy of defending him by suggesting that this must be a case of mistaken identity. Under the emerging strategy, Judge Kavanaugh’s defenders would accept that Dr. Blasey was in fact assaulted but would insist that it must have been by someone other than Judge Kavanaugh because he denied it.
The approach reflects the shifting reality of the #MeToo movement when it has become politically perilous to directly attack the credibility of women who come forward to tell their stories. By suggesting that perhaps there was confusion after more than 30 years, White House allies said that they could offer wavering Republicans whose votes are critical for his confirmation another explanation for the he-said-she-said conflict without tearing down Dr. Blasey.
You might call this the "It wasn't me" strategy.