The confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court could be derailed after Monday's Senate hearings on his alleged attempted rape while he was in high school. All this seems to parallel the Hill-Thomas hearings in 1991, except that today victims of sexual abuse are taken more seriously because of the me-too movement.
Here are the videos for the meeting:
- Kavanaugh accuser ‘struggled’ with decision to go public
- Judge Napolitano on if Kavanaugh's nomination
- What Hasn't Changed Since Anita Hill
Here are the other videos shown at the meeting:
The process of selecting a justice to the Supreme Court is political by definition. It’s not schoolteachers, or bankers, or generals, or even TV anchors who control the process – it’s legislators, members of a political institution. The choosing of a Supreme Court justice is as political as it gets.
ReplyDeletePeople may disagree as to whether the sexual aggressions of a drunken 17-year-old boy more than 30 years ago should disqualify him for a position on the Supreme Court, but there is likely to be near universal agreement that failure to take responsibility for such actions and to lie about it to Congress would be disqualifying. So the critical question seems to be whether or not it’s possible to determine if Judge Kavanaugh is telling the truth. Perhaps it’s not possible, but a single public hearing before a Senate committee in such a politically charged atmosphere hardly seems the venue for determining what happened all those years ago. Nor is it a level playing field. The accused is male and a member of the very powerful club of majority Republican males (Someone reported there are no Republican women on the committee) who, it seems, very much want him on the Court. The accuser, on the other hand, is female and has little power other than the backing of minority Democrats who, it seems, very much want to block him from joining the Court.
It is a given that both sides are acting politically. Perhaps it is the last shot of a beleaguered Democratic minority to block his nomination. But doesn’t one have to wonder why everyone, especially Judge Kavanaugh himself, would not want to do everything possible to clear his name and remove doubt before making such a monumental decision for the country? An investigation at least has the potential to be nonpartisan. Perhaps there is some nonpartisan argument not to investigate, but if so, I haven't heard it.
The problem with raccoons. . . . in reality, we have no proof that there are 100 raccoons in the basement. Scientists cite data that says there are not but our fearless Leader says there are and they pose a grave danger to the entire neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of something Mussolini said (and bear in mind that I have never taken a history course) about bringing up a child in the way he should be and he will never depart from it. Or, tell someone a lie often enough and he will believe it.