Brett Kavanaugh made it clear in his hearing yesterday that his earlier pretense of impartiality was just a mask he thought he had to wear to get confirmed. Yesterday he replaced that mask with an open declaration of war on Democrats and what they stand for. He now will be able to dive deeply into his own adolescent sense of offense to righteously oppose anything promoted by Democrats. And feel morally justified in so doing.
The Supreme Court may have been destroyed. It is hard to see it these days as little more than a legislative body - one that does not answer to the electorate directly. And the bulk of the responsibility for this tragedy goes to the Republicans.
The first violent assault on credibility of the Supreme Court was in 2000 when they ruled in favor of George W Bush over Al Gore and installed him in the White House. The obvious solution was to just count all the votes in Florida, and the one with the most votes wins the election. But, they didn't do the obvious, and the conservative judges installed a conservative president.
The second violent assault on the credibility of the Supreme Court happened in 2016 when the Republican leader of the Senate, Mitch McConnell, refused to even have a hearing for the moderate, center left judge, Merrick Garland. The then president Obama disappointed his more liberal wing and deliberately presented someone who was not a lefty but who had a good reputation as a moderate on the liberal side in hopes of getting some Republicans to vote for him.
McConnell proclaimed his intent for the Supreme Court to be an extension of the Republican Party when he refused to follow the established precedent and process of holding hearings on the president's nominee early in 2016.
And now, the third violent assault on the credibility of the Supreme Court happened yesterday, when we watched Judge Kavanaugh who threw a juvenile temper tantrum yesterday and proclaimed himself to be the the implacable enemy of the Democratic Party. (Imagine for a moment how a mature, even tempered man, someone like Judge Roberts or retired Secretary of State Colin Powell, would have presented themselves had they needed to make denials of wrong doing of someone like Dr Ford. Flushed faces and shouted insults would not have been part of those defenses, would they?)
Actually, in fairness, I suppose we should go back to Roe vs Wade as the first assault on the credibility of the Supreme Court. It is the icon for legislating from the bench. And has sent the Supreme Court on a descending path ever since as the offended side goes to more and more extremes to overturn that ruling. It has been said often that if the Supreme Court had not approved abortion the political process would have played out to approve abortion over time. It didn't seem like people had time to wait back then. So, here we are.
So, the Supreme Court is becoming just a more powerful version of the Senate. That is deeply wrong. The country remains a democracy because the electorate does not stage a revolution after elections and the transfer of power from one party to the other. The Supreme Court has always been the final arbiter of very vehemently held opposing political views. But, if the country doesn't trust them to be impartial and dedicated to the rule of law and the application of the Constitution and established law, but rather see them as only representing a political party that they loathe - the downside goes very far down indeed.
Having a Supreme Court justice who so passionately hates one of the parties is a terrible step into a very dark place in this country.
By the way, what happens if Trump loses in 2020 and refuses to step down, proclaiming that his loss was rigged? (not a far fetched notion, unfortunately, with this deeply disturbed man in the White House) and the new swing vote supports him in the Supreme Court? the one who just bellowed his hatred of Democrats?
Yesterday was a terrible day for America when a nominee to the court showed uncontrollable fury at one political party. And we had another terrible day today when the Republican controlled Senate Panel sent his nomination to the floor without sending the issue to be investigated by the FBI first.
Years ago, there were two very influential declarations of what it meant to play sports. The football owner and coach, Al Davis of the Oakland Raiders, had a motto - "Just win baby". In an earlier time, the great sports writer Grantland Rice wrote "It's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game." These had influence on their times. We are still suffering from the "just win bay" ethos. "How you play the game" is about character and sportsmanship.
Rice was right. Davis was wrong. It's the difference between character and a lack thereof. We are living in a time of a profound character crisis among our leaders. And I am afraid that our president is at the bottom of that character rung, and he has pulled his party down with him - plus a probable Supreme Court justice.
I love America too much to be anything other than deeply dismayed by what I saw yesterday and today.
