Any last lingering doubts on this subject are now unequivocally resolved. I could go over decades of abhorrent GOP behavior—Iran/Contra, the Thomas hearings, the open theft of the 2000 election, the rush to invade Iraq, the Swiftboats Smear in 2004, death panels, birthers, and all the rest. The blatant double-standard between the respective treatments of Merrick Garland and Brett Kavanaugh, however, tops them all.
To this day, no one has ever come forth with a hint of suspicion about Judge Garland’s qualifications or integrity. No Senate Republican ever came forward with any reasons why he should not have been confirmed. He never, however, got a Senate vote. He never even got a hearing. Senate Goopers effectively amended the Constitution to state that, after January 20 of a president’s final year in office, said (Democratic) president loses the right to fill a SCOTUS vacancy.
Fast forward 2 years to the retirement of Anthony Kennedy at the end of the 2018 term. Brett Kavanaugh is quickly nominated. Although there are tens of thousands of pages of potentially relevant documents generated by the nominee during his tenure in the GW Bush WH and on the DC Circuit, about 100k of them were withheld. Roughly 42k pages of documents were released at the 11th hour. A handful more were released by Senator Booker during the hearings themselves over vigorous GOP opposition.
It ultimately became apparent that Kavanaugh’s testimony was less than credible on at least 5 topics. The GOP majority on the Judiciary Committee, however, made it clear that a confirmation vote would go through come hell or high water. It was not until today, when a previously unknown college prof chose to come forward about a sexual assault that she states that Kavanaugh committed in 1982, that the Confirmation Express finally hit a pothole.
Those of us who still have painful memories of the 1991 Thomas confirmation hearings will ask the same questions now that were never really answered then. What did the accuser have to gain by coming forward? How did she benefit by doing so, especially given the torrent of abuse that she could reasonably expect once she did? Why should a nominee for a lifetime appointment on the high court be given the benefit of the doubt, especially when questions already existed about the nominee’s credibility? Shouldn’t a justice be beyond reproach at the time of his/her confirmation? What was there about the nominee that made his case so compelling in the face of such accusations?
I have no idea whether this nominee will be forced to answer those questions this time. I do know that this confirmation is a street fight against thugs who have proven time and time again that they will bear any burden, pay any price, meet any hardship, support any friend, and oppose any foe in order to ensure the survival of their political fortunes. I know, furthermore, that cooperation with the thugs has to end.
There can be no more deals where McConnell is allowed to fast-track the confirmation of 15 federal judges. Old-fashioned notions of comity and “bipartisanship” are as obsolete as Rockefeller Republicans. They’re as dead as Everett Dirksen. You don’t make nice with bullies who are constantly trying to steal your lunch money.
I have no idea what will happen with this nomination in the coming days. I do know that it must be fought By Any Means Necessary and that it needs to be a starting point for a different way of doing business in DC. Bipartisanship needs to be put out of its misery—NOW.