On The Kavanaugh Nomination
It is “perfectly legal” to nominate someone to the U.S. Supreme Court whose views on various important matters are far to the right of most Americans. It is “perfectly legal” for the Senate to have held up President Obama’s nominee, Merritt Garland, for 293 days to give “the people”–– as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell intoned –– a voice in who the next Supreme Court justice will be in the wake of Justice Antonin Scalia’s passing. At the time, McConnell said, “the American people should have a say in the court’s direction.” As to the American people’s voice, the Electoral College system makes it “perfectly legal” for Mr. Trump to be elected without a majority of the popular vote, and he was.
It is also “perfectly legal” for Republican senators to take a party line vote to accept his nomination, even though historically the number has been 60, and the 51 GOP Senators represent 143 million people, while the 49 Democratic senators represent about 182 million people. This is a legacy of a narrow vote taken at the Constitutional Convention 231 years ago that gave smaller states a larger say.
(See “Small states are getting a much larger say in who gets on the Supreme Court”)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/10/politics/small-states-supreme-court/index.html
Finally, it is “perfectly legal” for the White House to direct the FBI to have a limited investigation of the many allegations against Brett Kavanagh, and it is “perfectly legal” to appoint a man who is almost surely lied under oath to the U.S. Senate. See https://boingboing.net/2018/10/03/kavanaugh-lied.html, and https://qz.com/1380258/did-trumps-supreme-court-pick-brett-kavanaugh-lie-to-congress/
But lying is wrong, and Kavanaugh’s temperament is questionable, given his florid and politicized denials in response to Professor Ford’s testimony. On October 2, 2018, 500 law professors signed a letter to the Judiciary Committee stating that Kavanaugh was “unfit” to be on the Supreme Court for “lack of judicial temperament.”
To quote the article, “The legal experts fault Kavanaugh for failing to remain open to the necessary search for truth after being accused of sexually assaulting a girl when he was a teen and instead becoming “repeatedly aggressive with questioners.” The signees also criticize the judge for indicating that he believes allegations made by professor Christine Blasey Ford and other women are “a calculated and orchestrated political hit” by members of the Democratic Party rather than acknowledging that the Senate must try to understand and investigate the facts surrounding the allegations.”
For most Republican Senators, the goal of having an anti-abortion Justice, and one who fits with the agenda of favoring corporate interests above working people, the environment, and human rights is an end that justifies these means. Nor do they seem concerned that he is on record as supporting unchecked Presidential power at a time when all public officials, especially the President, need to be held accountable for lying, cheating, and self-dealing.
What’s happening now is perfectly legal, and also perfectly wrong.