Oct 14, 2018 4 min read

I have to hand it to the president and the Republicans in the United States Senate. They showed us how a ruthless party that holds the reins of power can muscle through the narrow approval of a nominee who is unfit to serve on the highest court in the land.

Disregarding the compelling testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, setting aside the tantrum and partisan attack unbefitting a member of the judiciary which Brett Kavanaugh hurled at his perceived left-wing foes during one of the ugliest moments in the history of Congress, disregarding that Kavanaugh has the highest public disapproval rating of any Supreme Court nominee, they determined that loyalty to Donald Trump is key, allowing him to fulfill his promise to place on the court judges who are anti-abortion rights and who are likely to be weak on civil and voting rights, slanted toward business over labor, disinclined to believe in human-made climate change, unlikely to maintain the protections offered by the Affordable Care Act, who will expand gun rights over the right of the public to safety, and who will serve to protect a president who could otherwise be charged with crimes and indicted.

The flip-flop president initially made the ignorant assertion that if the assault alleged by Ford was as bad as she says it was, that the then-15-year-old would have reported it to law enforcement authorities immediately. Nevermind the fact that key Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway recently acknowledged that she had been sexually assaulted decades ago and not reported it. After Ford’s gripping testimony, Trump, in a rare moment of lucidity and decency and sensing that the nomination could be in jeopardy, acknowledged that she was “very credible” and “a fine woman.” Days later, Trump again became Trump, using a campaign rally of the mob in Mississippi to mock Ford, falsely asserting that all she remembers about the fateful night in question is having one beer. The crowd lapped it up. The performance of the president who boasted of having engaged in sexual assault and who has stood up for others similarly accused serves to demonstrate what victims can expect when they come forward.

The president initially fought the initiation of an FBI investigation of the allegations against Kavanaugh, falsely asserting that the institution does not engage in such inquiries. After Republican Sen. Jeff Flake had a temporary pang of conscience, Trump and Senate Republicans recognized that they did not yet have the votes needed to confirm Kavanaugh. Never fear: Trump would finally agree to direct the FBI to investigate, a direction of limited scope which certainly hamstrung the agency. The five-day “investigation” can be declared to have been a whitewash as it did not include interviews with Ford and Kavanaugh nor many of the individuals whom Ford and Kavanaugh accuser Deborah Martinez indicated could corroborate their allegations.

If a credible allegation of attempted rape was not sufficient to disqualify Kavanaugh, we have his disgraceful and outrageous conduct before the committee, engaging in belligerence, mocking those who were questioning him, and asserting with no evidence a vast left-wing conspiracy anchored by the Clintons in order to bring him down. Kavanaugh used a Wall Street Journal editorial published on the eve of the final vote for his confirmation to apologize, in a way, for his conduct, attempting to justify it while acknowledging that he was “too emotional” and said things that should not have been said.

In unprecedented developments, thousands of law professors wrote to urge the Senate to reject the Kavanaugh nomination, and former Associate Justice John Paul Stevens went on the record to assert that this nominee is not fit for the court. One former Yale University classmate who is now a law professor had initially vouched for Kavanaugh, but rescinded his support predicated on the judge’s outburst at the Judiciary Committee hearing.

A Supreme Court that is not to have any association with partisanship is now widely and understandably perceived as merely another branch of the political system. Neil Gorsuch and Kavanaugh are seen as “Trump justices” who will march in lock step with the president who nominated them. Trump has fed this notion with his declaration that “we” (Republicans) need to hold the court. We also now have two associate justices who have been credibly accused of sexual impropriety.

Brett Kavanaugh took the oath of office as associate justice as countless protesters challenged his legitimacy at the doors of the court. Congratulations to the most divisive president in history: You won.

Oren Spiegler is a resident of South Strabane Township.