Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, it is argued, might have had an easy passage in the US Congress had he admitted upfront charges of sexual misdemeanours in his beer-soaked youth. After all, Trump still managed to defeat Hilary Clinton in spite of being caught boasting on video-tape of his serial violations of women, including porn stars, while married to his third and current wife Melania. This line of argument is flawed essentially because Supreme Court judges need to pass a far more rigorous test of character.
From the dramatic events that have unfolded since Trump picked the US District Federal Judge Kavanaugh for the highest court, it is established that he lacks both the moral character and a suitable temperament for the job. Quite aside from the accusations of sexual assaults he committed, his no-holds-barred verbal assault and mud-slinging against the Democrats disqualifies him for the apex court. As the ninth member of a court now evenly divided between conservatives and liberals, Kavanaugh, if ratified, will play a pivotal role in tiling the scales in favour of the extreme Right. Since the US Supreme Court judges hold office till death, or till they voluntarily call it a day, Judge Kavanaugh could exercise tremendous influence for several decades. Progressives fear that he might overturn the Row versus Wade, thus restricting abortion rights. Remember that the US Supreme Court virtually stole the election from Al Gore to help George W Bush become the president in 2000.
That dispute centered on the voting processes in Florida whose Governor at the time was George Bush’s younger brother. The point is that a Supreme Court justice’s ideological orientation is vital in the interpretation of laws. Conservative judges favour big business while those nominated by Democratic presidents are liberal and progressive. Trump is fortunate to have got the opportunity to fill two vacancies in the apex court. Judge Neil Gorsuch was appointed in April after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia who was a Ronald Reagan appointee back in 1986. The vacancy sought to be filled up by by Kavanaugh arose when Judge Anthony Kennedy, 81, resigned after serving on the Supreme Court for 30 years. How fortunate is Trump to seal the conservative character of the highest court in the land for decades can be gauged from the fact that very often there occur no vacancies during the term of a president.
Regardless of his rightist world-view, what might stop Kavanaugh’s elevation to the Supreme Court is the belated investigation into the charges of sexual misdemeanours by at least three women. Of the three, the more serious and credible are by a university professor Christine Blasey. She claimed that a beer-drunk 17-year-old Kavanaugh along with a fellow student sought to molest her when she was fifteen. She was fortunate to have escaped, though the attack left her scarred for life. She named the other student involved in the attack who is very much around. Her tear-filled testimony seemed credible. And she said she wasn’t going public with the 1981 or early 1982 incident for revenge. No. She felt that it was her civic duty to stop someone of Kavanaugh’s character from sitting in the highest court in the country. Since Ford’s complaint became public, two other women from his days as a student have come forward to allege sexual misbehavior by the Supreme Court nominee. Kavanaugh responded with outright denials, feigning innocence and anger, claiming that his conduct even as a teenaged student was a model of moral rectitude. Studies and sports engaged him all through, he volunteered.
But he shed all pretence of impartiality, wildly railing against the Democratic Party, suspecting a conspiracy to avenge their defeat in the presidential poll by seeking to stall his nomination. However, this blatant attempt to shift the blame, to play the victim of partisanship did not seem to work. The lone Republican member whose support was crucial to approve his appointment in a 51:49 Senate insisted on a FBI probe. At the end of the week, the FBI is expected to give its findings. Ford’s testimony suggests that Kavanaugh’s fate is sealed. But, as we said, even if he somehow survives the FBI test, his angry and unsubstantiated outbursts against the Democrats should rule him out for sitting in the Supreme Court. Of course, following the new awakening about the women’s rights inspired by the #MeToo campaign, it seems hard for anyone to dismiss the charges of sexual abuse against a Supreme Court nominee lightly. Meanwhile, Kavanaugh’s failure to make it to the top court might also put in jeopardy his present position as a US Circuit Court.
