Today Judge Kavanaugh is finally appointed to the Supreme Court. It was the longest, most fraught process that was 35% longer than any other SCOTUS nomination in the history of our country. The process included venomous accusations of High School drinking, rape, indecent exposure, and gang rape parties. None of these accusations could be verified as being true. In fact, all but one seems to be total fiction for political gain, and 1 was in testimony heart wrenching but totally unverifiable, even by the accusers best friend.
The vote was basically right down party lines, with the Republicans for and the Democrats against. Republicans relying on due process and the concept of our Judicial system, that one is innocent until proven guilty. Democrats were factually throwing due process out the window, relying on unverifiable accusations to sully the name of this good Judge, and to likewise ruin his good family in ways that may last a lifetime. This cynical crudity was their last ditch attempt to eliminate a constitutionalist from the court in the hope that they can delay an appointment until another President is in office. They lost the battle this time.
The Democrats have drawn their battle line. They have established that they will travel to any depths of depravity to get their way. Any accusation is fair game, and in their world, the ends justify the means. As Chuck Schumer said the day that our President nominated Judge Kavanaugh, ” “In selecting Judge Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court, President Trump has put reproductive rights and freedoms and health care protections for millions of Americans on the judicial chopping block. … I will oppose Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination with everything I have, and I hope a bipartisan majority will do the same.” He also said that with Judge Kavanaugh that “There is no presumption of innocence”. Every Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee also opposed the Judge with everything they had, which were lies and UN-provable accusations and innuendos, nothing else.
The ramifications of this toxic process will now take us to places that we have never been before. It is apparent that our polarized nation will become more divided, with each tribal camp digging in, believing that their way is the only way. Debates will become even more contentious, and faith in the fairness of government and our judicial system will be even more compromised. We are truly in a unenviable place in our countries history, a place where civil discourse is increasingly uncivil.
One thing we can point to as a positive is that a good man’s family and name has been redeemed, and we now have a court that will adhere to the written law and the constitution. This will insure that for decades to come, Judges will find it hard, and one day impossible to “legislate on the bench”. Constitutional order, rule of law and the notion of “balance of power” will be eventually restored. We are in for a rocky time in the short term, but with a judiciary in order, and justice prevailing, and with the help of God, we will come out of this stronger than ever.
Another positive, at least for Republicans, is that the behavior of Senate Democrats in this process, along with the behavior of the protesters outside and inside the Senate building, has energized Republican base for the mid-terms like never before. The RNC, candidates, their speeches, messages and their advertisements could not do this for that party. It took something as monumental as the attempted personal “assassination” of Kavanaugh’s name to rile them up, and organize them to go to the polls en mass. Without the help of the Democrats, there would be no hope to counter the expected “blue wave”. Unwittingly, the Democrats have handed their rivals a gift that just may end up being a “red tsunami”!