Right now, I hate our politics. The dysfunctional appointment of Supreme Court justices brings out the worst in our politicians. The Kavanaugh nomination and response to accusations of sexual assault illustrate how quickly both sides fall into battle mode with little desire to learn the truth.
Mitch McConnell is the main villain in this story. Republicans like to say it began with the nomination of Robert Bork, but the modern saga began when McConnell decided nothing Obama could do would pass, including the nomination of judges. He withheld the appointment of 17 Obama appointees to the court and refused to negotiate a settlement to avoid the so-called “nuclear option” of ending the 60-vote threshold for nominees.
Just a few years earlier, Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee had threatened to implement the nuclear option when Democrats held up just seven of George Bush’s judicial appointments. Instead, Democrats negotiated a settlement that resulted in about half of the appointments moving forward. McConnell refused any such bargain, daring then-Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid to pull the trigger on the nuclear option while leaving the 60-vote threshold in place for Supreme Court nominations. Reid called his bluff and McConnell warned that Republicans would make him regret it.
McConnell then famously refused a hearing on Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, following the death of Antonin Scalia. When Democrats threatened to block the nomination of Neil Gorsuch, the Federalist Society pick for Supreme Court, McConnell pulled the nuclear option for Supreme Court nominations. He set the stage for the debacle playing out now.
Regardless of the assault allegations, Kavanaugh is not the type of person we should have on the Supreme Court. He never built his career as a thoughtful respected jurist. He built his career as a partisan hack with an agenda. He served as an attack dog on Ken Starr’s investigation into Bill Clinton, re-opening the Vince Foster suicide investigation to satisfy wingnut conspiracy theories that suggested Foster was murdered to cover up an affair with Hillary Clinton. He served as a political appointee in the Bush White House, promoting conservative appointees to the bench. He got appointed to the court himself as a political payoff, not because of his legal mind.
As for the allegations, they certainly sound credible, but that doesn’t make them true. They should be investigated but they shouldn’t be the reason for excluding Kavanaugh from the Supreme Court. He lacks the judicial temperament to serve, not that McConnell or most Republicans care. His name should never have been put forward and Democrats should be able to keep him of the court by preventing sixty votes. That’s the reason for threshold in the first place.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
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