A Fear Filled Room
The eyes of the nation were on a small room in the Dirksen Senate Building in Washington, D.C. A room filled with fear.
The fear of 11 white, male, Republican Senators who feared that if they themselves had questioned Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, those questions would come back to haunt them in their next reelection campaign.
The fear of the supporters of Brett Kavanaugh that a delay in the confirmation process beyond November's mid-term elections would result in his nomination being defeated.
The fear of a man named Mark Judge who refuses to testify regarding these allegations.
The fear of Donald Trump that yet another of his moves would end in failure, like the effort to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act.
The fear of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford that she wouldn't be treated properly by her inquisitor.
* * *
If Judge Kavanaugh is so interested in restoring his reputation, in clearing his good name, why wouldn't he welcome any and all investigations? If he is sure that his calendar and the support of his high school friends are proof that he is innocent, he should welcome a full investigation. He clearly does not.
Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's life is irreparably damaged. She had nothing to gain from coming forward and she has lost quite a bit.
Senator Grassley is currently spouting false equivalencies comparing the nomination processes for Justice Kagan and Justice Kavanaugh in terms of records being sought. The failure of Republicans to request the records of Justice Kagan from her time as Solicitor General has no bearing on the fact that Democrats requested and were refused access to records from Judge Kavanaugh's time in the White House. The actions of Judge Kavanaugh during his time in the Bush White House should not be kept under lock and key.
While it is certainly understandable that one would be agitated and upset by allegations against them, that does not justify the temperament and behavior displayed by Judge Kavanaugh during his testimony after Dr. Ford testified first. They are behaviors that show his unfitness to be elevated to the Supreme Court in and of themselves.
How can Judge Kavanaugh be so intelligent, so aware and supportive of the advancement of women and yet have had no knowledge of the sexual improprieties of Judge Alex Kozinski, when he was a clerk for that judge?
As of this morning, it has been 9,847 days since Anita Hill was testified. Senators Grassley, Hatch and Leahy were on the Senate Judiciary Committee then, and they are on it now. There were 14 white men on that committee then. Seems little has changed, doesn't it.
Senator Hatch of Utah pointed out that it has been 81 days since Judge Kavanaugh was nominated. He seems to have forgotten that 293 days passed from the day that President Obama nominated Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court until it expired because Senate Republicans played partisan politics to prevent that nomination from ever being considered.
The Judicial Branch of our government would be free from partisanship in an ideal world. In the real world, everything in D.C. is political.
Senator Jeff Flake has announced he will vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh. I tweeted this right after that was announced:
* * *
At that point I had to leave to run some errands and head to work. When I arrived home late on Friday night, things had changed remarkably.
After that moment, Senator Flake flinched. He brokered a deal out of the public eye wherein there would be a Senate floor vote on the Kavanaugh nomination but only after an investigation by the FBI into the allegations against Judge Kavanaugh.
The probe must be completed within one week. The White House claims it has given the FBI what Donald Trump described as "free rein" but there are multiple sources reporting that White House Counsel Don McGahn is controlling the scope of the investigation and that the GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee prepared the list of people who will be questioned.
Supreme Court nominations have been a partisan problem that has only worsened in recent years. In 2013 it was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, who first invoked the so-called nuclear option to allow the Senate to avoid filibusters of executive branch nominees and judicial appointments, except to the Supreme Court. Of the ten Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, nine of them were in the Senate in 2013 and voted in favor of eliminating their right to filibuster a nomination (CA Senator Kamala Harris wasn't elected to the Senate until 2016).
Then in 2017, Senator Mitch McConnell extended the nuclear option to include SCOTUS nominations. He was a vocal opponent of the move back in 2013. The ever shifting priorities of partisan political polarization at work.
Senator McConnell abrogated the right of President Barrack Obama to nominate a justice to the Supreme Court to replace the late Antonin Scalia. It wasn't a lack of the qualifications of the nominee that motivated McConnell. It was the hope that they could hold off considering the nomination of Garland until after the November election; and in a strategy suggested by Senator Flake, confirm Garland in the lame-duck session to avoid a "more liberal" nomination from Hillary Clinton.
Is it right for the Democrats to try to do the same thing to the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh? I don't believe it is. But I do not find Judge Kavanaugh to be qualified, without regard to the allegations of sexual impropriety against him. His lack of complete honesty about his college drinking while under oath, and his failure to deal with the allegations against Judge Alex Kozinski, when he worked for him are what render him unqualified in my view.
It will be an interesting week.
The fear of 11 white, male, Republican Senators who feared that if they themselves had questioned Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, those questions would come back to haunt them in their next reelection campaign.
The fear of the supporters of Brett Kavanaugh that a delay in the confirmation process beyond November's mid-term elections would result in his nomination being defeated.
The fear of a man named Mark Judge who refuses to testify regarding these allegations.
The fear of Donald Trump that yet another of his moves would end in failure, like the effort to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act.
The fear of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford that she wouldn't be treated properly by her inquisitor.
* * *
If Judge Kavanaugh is so interested in restoring his reputation, in clearing his good name, why wouldn't he welcome any and all investigations? If he is sure that his calendar and the support of his high school friends are proof that he is innocent, he should welcome a full investigation. He clearly does not.
Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's life is irreparably damaged. She had nothing to gain from coming forward and she has lost quite a bit.
Senator Grassley is currently spouting false equivalencies comparing the nomination processes for Justice Kagan and Justice Kavanaugh in terms of records being sought. The failure of Republicans to request the records of Justice Kagan from her time as Solicitor General has no bearing on the fact that Democrats requested and were refused access to records from Judge Kavanaugh's time in the White House. The actions of Judge Kavanaugh during his time in the Bush White House should not be kept under lock and key.
While it is certainly understandable that one would be agitated and upset by allegations against them, that does not justify the temperament and behavior displayed by Judge Kavanaugh during his testimony after Dr. Ford testified first. They are behaviors that show his unfitness to be elevated to the Supreme Court in and of themselves.
How can Judge Kavanaugh be so intelligent, so aware and supportive of the advancement of women and yet have had no knowledge of the sexual improprieties of Judge Alex Kozinski, when he was a clerk for that judge?
As of this morning, it has been 9,847 days since Anita Hill was testified. Senators Grassley, Hatch and Leahy were on the Senate Judiciary Committee then, and they are on it now. There were 14 white men on that committee then. Seems little has changed, doesn't it.
Senator Hatch of Utah pointed out that it has been 81 days since Judge Kavanaugh was nominated. He seems to have forgotten that 293 days passed from the day that President Obama nominated Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court until it expired because Senate Republicans played partisan politics to prevent that nomination from ever being considered.
The Judicial Branch of our government would be free from partisanship in an ideal world. In the real world, everything in D.C. is political.
Senator Jeff Flake has announced he will vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh. I tweeted this right after that was announced:
Any chance @JeffFlake had of being relevant in the 2020 presidential election just went up in smoke with his decision to vote to confirm #Kavanaugh. #IBelieveChristineBlaseyFord— Brian Milinsky (@cyclist1959) September 28, 2018
* * *
At that point I had to leave to run some errands and head to work. When I arrived home late on Friday night, things had changed remarkably.
After that moment, Senator Flake flinched. He brokered a deal out of the public eye wherein there would be a Senate floor vote on the Kavanaugh nomination but only after an investigation by the FBI into the allegations against Judge Kavanaugh.
The probe must be completed within one week. The White House claims it has given the FBI what Donald Trump described as "free rein" but there are multiple sources reporting that White House Counsel Don McGahn is controlling the scope of the investigation and that the GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee prepared the list of people who will be questioned.
Supreme Court nominations have been a partisan problem that has only worsened in recent years. In 2013 it was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, who first invoked the so-called nuclear option to allow the Senate to avoid filibusters of executive branch nominees and judicial appointments, except to the Supreme Court. Of the ten Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, nine of them were in the Senate in 2013 and voted in favor of eliminating their right to filibuster a nomination (CA Senator Kamala Harris wasn't elected to the Senate until 2016).
Then in 2017, Senator Mitch McConnell extended the nuclear option to include SCOTUS nominations. He was a vocal opponent of the move back in 2013. The ever shifting priorities of partisan political polarization at work.
Senator McConnell abrogated the right of President Barrack Obama to nominate a justice to the Supreme Court to replace the late Antonin Scalia. It wasn't a lack of the qualifications of the nominee that motivated McConnell. It was the hope that they could hold off considering the nomination of Garland until after the November election; and in a strategy suggested by Senator Flake, confirm Garland in the lame-duck session to avoid a "more liberal" nomination from Hillary Clinton.
Is it right for the Democrats to try to do the same thing to the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh? I don't believe it is. But I do not find Judge Kavanaugh to be qualified, without regard to the allegations of sexual impropriety against him. His lack of complete honesty about his college drinking while under oath, and his failure to deal with the allegations against Judge Alex Kozinski, when he worked for him are what render him unqualified in my view.
It will be an interesting week.
posted by me at 1:21 PM
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