Blog entry #2: Why is it a disaster to have confirmed Kavanaugh? And, what ought to be done?
In my first blog entry, I said that I felt on 10/6 like I had felt on 9/11, when it felt like jumbo jets had crashed into me and my community. We would Remember 10/6. And we ought to take action.
It’s 10/8. I still feel that way.
I’ve been asking myself:
Why is it a disaster to have confirmed Kavanaugh?
Was it a disaster because Kavanaugh is a bad man?
I, personally, have no deep knowledge of other Supreme Court justices. I have no way of knowing that they are NOT bad people. (I definitely have negative feelings about Thomas, and am confident that he lied during his confirmation hearings. I disagree with his decisions and opinions in some cases. But I would not go so far as to argue for his impeachment.) I don’t see this as a moralistic “he is a bad man, so he shouldn’t have been confirmed because it rewards a bad man” thing.
Was it a disaster because it was partisan?
In these times, I doubt that any nomination, by either side, will be anything other than partisan. Obama nominated Garland, an incredibly moderate justice, and Republicans refused to even have a vote on him (because they knew they could not justify voting against him). Trump nominated Kavanaugh, whose decisions aligned with Garland’s well over 90% of the time, and conservatives hailed him as a fantastic choice, while liberals criticized him heavily. I thought he was… qualified. I did not become a rabid Never Kavanaugh person until his testimony defending himself against Ford.
Was it a disaster because Kavanaugh perjured himself?
Yes, that’s how I see it. I can explore this in detail in another blog entry. I don’t see how people can disagree with this.
Was it a disaster because Kavanaugh demonstrated that he is not impartial?
Yes. I don’t see how this isn’t clear. Judges should be impartial. Kavanaugh is not impartial. Kavanaugh should not be a judge.
Was it a disaster because Kavanaugh is a sex offender?
That isn’t my focus. I think Kavanaugh lied in defending himself against accusations of sexual assault, and that lying in his defense strongly implies his guilt. But I think perjury and lack of impartiality are sufficient reasons to not have selected him.
Even if it was a disaster, it’s over, right? Kavanaugh is on the Supreme Court. Case closed. Right?
Well… he CAN be impeached. Republicans have spent the past 8.5 years trying to undo the ACA. They certainly have felt passionately about that. Those of us who think a lying partisan asshole ought to be removed from the Supreme Court certainly have the ability to tilt at windmills if we choose.
OK, fine, he CAN be impeached. But, should he?
This is a bit tricky. On one hand, a lying partisan asshole should not be making important decisions about our country; even once confirmed, he deserves to be removed. On the other hand, removing a Supreme Court justice is fraught with peril. What if Republicans decided to remove RBG? Frankly, I think a long-term effort to convince REPUBLICANS that they made a mistake and ought to fix it would be optimal. I hold out little hope of this happening short-term.
We’re talking here about punishing Kavanaugh for his sexual assault, right?
I’m not. In my opinion, working feverishly to remove Kavanaugh as punishment for attempted rape confuses the issue. Then, people will argue that he should NOT be removed UNTIL/UNLESS he is actually convicted of attempted rape. And no court would, or should, convict him of attempted rape. There is no evidence. There never will be evidence. The only extent to which Kavanaugh will ever be punished for attempted rape is by having over 100 million people know for certain he’s guilty.
Is it possible that Kavanaugh could act as a reasonable Supreme Court justice?
I know I will be extremely (pleasantly) surprised if he recuses himself from controversial decisions where he might demonstrate bias. I will also be surprised if the liberal justices on the Supreme Court make statements supporting him. That could defuse my concerns. My bias against him has been strengthened the more I’ve learned about him. I doubt that will change.
What would have to happen for Kavanaugh to actually be impeached?
Kavanaugh, in his testimony itself, perjured himself. He himself has made self-contradictory statements, which ought to have disqualified him for any judicial position. The Senate, in their infinite wisdom, did not deign to act on this – in fact, it deigned to act despite this. The fact that they confirmed him anyway does not wipe away those instances of perjury. No one can claim “Those lies don’t matter, the Senate officially ruled them OK.” In fact, the senators who confirmed him, in many cases, stated “I believe him”. Declaring that he lied in an impeachment process would be sufficient to ultimately impeach him… if the Senate could be convinced to vote against him with 67 votes. Which either means continued, compelling attention to the fact that he lied sufficient to get existing Republican senators to vote for impeachment, or else convincing the US voters that he lied sufficient to get them to vote the Republicans out of office, and then have Democrats wield 67 votes to impeach him in the Senate. Not an easy task. Perhaps not even realistic. But worth pursuing. It will be beneficial, IMHO, to continue to complain about the lies he already told, and to reveal more evidence to demonstrate that they are lies. For instance, I’m pretty confident there are many people who can attest to his misbehavior. Perhaps there are pictures. We already have some police records. We already have testimony from multiple people.
Aren’t there more important, urgent issues to deal with in this age of Trump?
Probably. However, this is the one that I, personally, find so egregious. By voting Republicans out of office in general, we will make progress on multiple other fronts as well. Keeping the focus on Kavanaugh’s lies may reap multiple benefits.
What actions can we take today?
I chose to join Indivisible. I donated to them today, with a monthly ongoing donation. (In general, I like committing to monthly donations, because it provides a predictable revenue stream for causes I support. And, that way, I don’t forget to renew next year.) I also volunteered to help with phone bank activities. Thanks to Kris for recommending this!
And apparently Trump thinks that my views are an insult to the American public. Meanwhile, he claimed that Kavanaugh’s confirmation proved he was innocent. In case it wasn’t clear, that’s a lie. Much like the lies that Kavanaugh told, such as his statements that the other people Ford listed as being at the party said it didn’t happen. (Those were more logical fallacies than anything else, I guess – unlike his statement that he had never been at a party like that, when his calendar shows he had been, at least he was simply mischaracterizing other people as saying something they did not actually say. It’s completely possible that Trump could be confused enough to say things that are misleading and untrue without knowing what he’s doing. If Kavanaugh, as a judge, didn’t know what he was doing, it was scary incompetence sufficient to disqualify him, but it seems unlikely he didn’t know what he was doing.
This is Day 2 after 10/6/2018. I’m a subscriber/supporter of WTFJHT, where Matt has sent 400 daily emails so far regarding the Trump Presidency. If he can send out an email each workday, I suspect I can keep writing about my unhappiness regarding Kavanaugh, and take various actions, for at least a little while longer.
