Why is the decision on Kavanaugh so difficult?
I was reading about how they select and verify a Supreme Court Justice here:
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44234.pdf
that document has quotes like:
* “In addition to the obvious criteria any nominee for the Supreme Court ought to have—I suppose any nominee for any position on the judiciary ought to have—those of intellect, of integrity, and of judicial temperament, it is very appropriate of the Senate to inquire into a nominee’s judicial philosophy. Of course, that includes the nominee’s fidelity to the Constitution.”
Sen. Charles E. Grassley
* the “more appropriate standard” was that the nominee “have outstanding legal ability and wide experience and meet the highest standards of integrity, judicial temperament, and professional competence.”
* “When I face a Supreme Court nominee I have three questions: Is he or she competent? Does she or he possess the highest personal and professional integrity? And, third, will he or she protect and defend the core constitutional values and guarantees around free of speech, religion, equal protection of the law, and the right of privacy?”
Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski
* By contrast, Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT), in testimony before the subcommittee, declared that
there “are myriad reasons why political ideology has not been—and is not—an appropriate
measure of judicial qualifications. Fundamentally,” he continued, “the Senate’s responsibility to
provide advice and consent does not include an ideological litmus test because a nominee’s
personal opinions are largely irrelevant so long as the nominee can set those opinions aside and
follow the law fairly and impartially as a judge.”
Kavanaugh has already been very questionable in terms of integrity while answering questions on torture during his years at the Bush White House, Judge Pickering, $200,000 credit card debt, an OSHA case, emails stolen from Democrats, Roe v Wade, disgraced Judge Kozinski from sexual misconduct allegations, etc.
But lets ignore those for the moment though many seem disqualifying to me and others.
Dr. Ford reluctantly came forward with allegations. Those allegations have been substantiated by passing a lie detector test, 2012 and 2013 therapist notes and some witnesses - some we have yet to hear from. Articles like this point to her credibility
https://www.vox.com/first-person/2018/9/18/17874504/kavanaugh-assault-allegation-christine-blasey-ford
In response to Dr. Ford's allegations, we have witnessed things like this:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=11164736
We might be concerned some with statute of limitations with respect to Dr. Ford's claims. But to me, there are no statute of limitations on Kavanagh's recent response to Dr. Ford.
Kavanaugh has rejected due process for Dr. Ford. By sitting on his hands, he has rejected an investigation by the FBI to get to the bottom of the facts. He has aligned himself with people smearing Dr. Ford, bullying her and slamming the door on examining her claims fairly.
That to me is not conduct becoming a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Such a Justice would demonstrate possession of "high standards of integrity" by welcoming a FBI investigation and witnesses and evidence to clear his good name and "follow the law fairly and impartially" to deliver due process to Dr. Ford transparently - for all to see.
Kavanaugh through his inaction to date has failed to do that. In doing so, Kavanaugh revealed without any reasonable doubt that he lacks the "high standards of integrity" cited in the document above on selecting a Justice for the Supreme Court and he showed that he cannot be relied upon to "follow the law fairly and impartially"
Kavanaugh has already disqualified himself with his response to Dr. Ford's claims.
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