Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination / Kavanaugh should be confirmed

Position: Kavanaugh should be confirmed

This position addresses the topic Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination.

For this position

Two weeks ago, what we knew of Judge Kavanaugh suggested that he is a man of immense talent, impeccable temperament, and excellent character. Nothing that has happened in the intervening days, certainly not Kavanaugh’s warranted anger today, has altered our view. “Judge” and “Defendant” are two wholly discrete roles, which is why judges recuse themselves when their personal affairs and those of the court intersect.

From Confirm Kavanaugh, by National Review editorial board (National Review, September 28, 2018) (view)

We didn’t care for Kavanaugh’s angry, defensive and at times rude behavior in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Nor did we care for nasty attacks on him by some senators. The confirmation process needs an overhaul. But we find no trace of an intemperate Kavanaugh in the 300 decisions he has written over 12 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

From After the FBI report, confirm Kavanaugh, by Chicago Tribune editorial board (Chicago Tribune, October 5, 2018) (view)

Going forward, you can count on me to be the same kind of judge and person I have been for my entire 28-year legal career: hardworking, even-keeled, open-minded, independent and dedicated to the Constitution and the public good. As a judge, I have always treated colleagues and litigants with the utmost respect. I have been known for my courtesy on and off the bench. I have not changed.

From I Am an Independent, Impartial Judge, by Brett Kavanaugh (The Wall Street Journal, October 5, 2018) (view)

Kavanaugh, from the very beginning, should have been presumed innocent. The rule of law is becoming dangerously subservient to mob rule. And if seven background checks are insufficient to clear a person’s name, what’s the magic number? Eight? Nine?

From Confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, by Tom Fitton (USA Today, October 5, 2018) (view)

This confirmation process has been a display of the worst of American politics in the year 2018. The absurdity of U.S. senators grilling a nominee for the Supreme Court about how many "brewskis" he consumed as a teenager can't be overstated.

From Confirm Brett Kavanaugh, by The Detroit News editorial board (The Detroit News, October 4, 2018) (view)

Thing is, the Democrats have been insincere from the get-go. They were opposed to Kavanaugh as soon as he was nominated, before any smears about his personal life ever surfaced. Theirs has been not a search for truth but for anything that could derail or at least delay his confirmation. The demands for an FBI investigation were just another ploy — and there was never any chance they would accept the results.

From End the farce and confirm Kavanaugh, by New York Post editorial board (New York Post, October 4, 2018) (view)

Against this position

A good number of Americans already believe the Supreme Court is nothing more than a mini-legislature with two warring factions, fighting for that fifth seat to deliver “wins” for its side. Putting a judge on the Supreme Court who expressed hatred and resentment toward a wide swath of the Democratic Party would shred whatever is left of the court’s intellectual integrity.

From If we want to protect the Supreme Court’s legitimacy, Kavanaugh should not be on it, by Jennifer Rubin (The Washington Post, September 29, 2018) (view)

As a Supreme Court nominee, Kavanaugh’s countless hours of preparation and war-gaming with top White House officials, combined with his fury at Democrats, raise legitimate concerns that he now views himself as an extension of Team Trump. Would that, along with his expansive views of executive power, influence his position in a showdown between Trump and special counsel Robert Mueller? At a time when the Supreme Court’s credibility is already suspect, does it need another member coming in under a cloud of suspicion with a chip on his shoulder?

From Vote no on Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation, by USA Today editorial board (USA Today, October 5, 2018) (view)

At the hearing, Mr. Kavanaugh lashed out with a theory that the sexual misconduct allegations were driven by “revenge on behalf of the Clintons and millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups.” That is bizarre. But what is chilling is the threat that followed: “What goes around comes around.” It sounded as if he was promising retaliation of his own in the future. How can such a man act as an impartial justice? How can he leave retribution (and paranoia) out of his decisions on the court?

From Yale Law Professors Are Right. Brett Kavanaugh Is Unfit For High Court, by The Hartford Courant editorial board (The Hartford Courant, October 5, 2018) (view)

It’s entirely understandable that Kavanaugh would be angry about these accusations, if in fact they’re not true, and about how they were handled by the committee. But in his testimony last week he went beyond righteous outrage to engage in a partisan rant utterly inappropriate for a sitting federal judge, let alone a nominee for the Supreme Court.

From Brett Kavanaugh doesn't belong on the Supreme Court, by Los Angeles Times editorial board (Los Angeles Times, October 5, 2018) (view)

If Mr. Kavanaugh truly is, or believes himself to be, a victim of mistaken identity, his anger is understandable. But he went further in last Thursday’s hearing than expressing anger. He gratuitously indulged in hyperpartisan rhetoric against “the left,” describing his stormy confirmation as “a calculated and orchestrated political hit, fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election” and “revenge on behalf of the Clintons.” He provided neither evidence nor even a plausible explanation for this red-meat partisanship, but he poisoned any sense that he could serve as an impartial judge.

From Vote ‘no’ on Kavanaugh, by The Washington Post editorial board (The Washington Post, October 4, 2018) (view)

We each asserted that Brett lied to the Senate by stating, under oath, that he never drank to the point of forgetting what he was doing. We said, unequivocally, that each of us, on numerous occasions, had seen Brett stumbling drunk to the point that it would be impossible for him to state with any degree of certainty that he remembered everything that he did when drunk.

From We were Brett Kavanaugh’s drinking buddies. We don’t think he should be confirmed., by Charles Ludington, Lynne Brookes, Elizabeth Swisher (The Washington Post, October 4, 2018) (view)

Kavanaugh was allegedly drunk during his encounters with Ford and Ramirez, and his defensive, I-like-beer testimony on the subject last week was one of several instances in which he seems to have been less than candid under oath. His earlier sworn testimony about his receipt of information stolen from Democratic senators when he served in President George W. Bush’s administration also strained credulity. So did his explanation of a series of coded references in his high school yearbook, a trivial matter that nonetheless underscored his readiness to lie to senators.

From The case against Brett Kavanaugh, by San Francisco Chronicle editorial board (San Francisco Chronicle, October 4, 2018) (view)

Mixed on this position

Mr. Kavanaugh’s selection was born out of Mr. Trump’s need to reassure the Republican base during the presidential campaign that he would nominate acceptably conservative justices. The confirmation hearings made a mockery of any pretense that the Republican majority would attempt to assess his fitness for the nation’s highest court — or, for that matter, that Democrats would do more than grandstand on the way to a sure defeat in the Senate in hopes of a win at the polls. The Senate Judiciary Committee hearings with Ms. Ford and Mr. Kavanaugh were designed in such a way as to preclude any actual finding of facts. And the FBI investigation that followed, limited in time and scope, was no better.

From The fix is in for Brett Kavanaugh, by The Baltimore Sun editorial board (The Baltimore Sun, October 4, 2018) (view)