Drtaxsacto's Reviews > Justice on Trial: The Kavanaugh Confirmation and the Future of the Supreme Court

The struggle to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court was one of the biggest stories of 2018. This book, by two conservative writers, tells the story of the process. While it is clear that they supported Kavanaugh's appointment - I think the book is the best summary of all the issues in what turned out to be a bizarre process.

Kavanaugh was, by all accounts, a distinguished jurist with more than 300 decisions under his belt when he was nominated to replace Anthony Kennedy (who he once clerked for). But progressive activists decided that this would become the fight of their lives. Paid activists invaded the committee hearing room in the first set of hearings with the sole purpose of disrupting the process. As the process continued more and more odd accusations began to be advanced. In the end that may well have compromised the initial accuser's story.

The media ignored two key parts of the story. While there was lots of parsing of Kavanaugh’s prep school yearbook no one bothered to check out the Holton Arms yearbooks which seem to have had a bit of a randy reputation. Second, no one seemed interested in the disrupters. Evidently the media believed that all those people came to DC spontaneously. Both misses worked to the disadvantage of Kavanaugh.

American jurisprudence assumes and accused is innocent until proven guilty- but with the advent of the #MeToo movement - that assumption is thrown out. Many in the movement suggest that simply making an accusation is dispositive of guilt.

The story of this process is interesting because of all the odd things that happened. Many of those things seem to suggest that opponents were willing to do anything to slow or derail the process. For example, Senator Feinstein got a letter from Kavanaugh's initial accuser and seems to have sat on it for several weeks not mentioning it or following up with either committee investigators or with the FBI. When she met with the nominee she did not ask about the accusation in the letter. Kavanaugh had one real accuser and a number of others (about 10 in the end) who made increasingly non-credible claims. But even with Blasé Ford no individual came forward (and indeed on person who Blasé-Ford claimed to be a corroborating witness) to verify any details. The time and place of the incident; the number of participants; how Blasé-Ford got to and got from the party - none of those details had a shred of corroboration. The book goes through all of those incongruities and the even less credible claims by Kavanaugh's other accusers in a careful way.

One cautionary tale is that even in defeat opponents of a jurist will continue to try to influence the history. At the time that Clarence Thomas was approved by the Senate - a huge majority of Americans believed his story over that of Anita Hill. Now the polls are reversed.

One of the most disappointing parts of the story is the hyper response that opponents had against liberals who came out against Blasé-Ford's story or in support of the nominee. From the start Kavanaugh had a long list of supporters across the political spectrum. Kavanaugh had an exemplary record of hiring female clerks who supported his candidacy. Many of those who supported hum lost friends; Senator Collins received death threats and indeed last spring when I was in SMA I spoke with a person from Maine who said she was a Republican but would actively work against Collins in her re-election campaign - exclusively on the basis of Collins' vote on Kavanaugh. The book provides some detail on how senators including Collins came to their conclusion. At the time, I thought Collins' speech in support before the floor vote was a remarkable presentation.

One wishes that individuals could do the advice and consent process without the drama. But that is not likely. Be prepared for a very ugly process if Trump has the chance to nominate a third Supreme Court Justice. That simply is not the intended way that "Advice and Consent" was thought to work. But that is the world we live in. But in a time when Congress has abdicated its appropriate law making power to the bureaucrats the stakes for who sits on the court are forever higher.