Brett Kavanaugh (pictured above) is a problematic nomination for the open Supreme Court seat based on his previous behavior. There are a number of other potential candidates that would be more appropriate (U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit/Creative commons).
The United States Senate should not confirm U.S. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court because of his extreme conservative bent, his unethical behavior in the George W. Bush White House and his alleged attempted rape of a woman in high school.
The Supreme Court is one of the most powerful institutions in American government. By the end of their term, a slim majority of five individuals can decide what civil rights are protected, whether the government can limit gun ownership, the scope of religious institutions or the fate of an embattled president.
As judges of what is fair and what is legal, justices should demonstrate open-minded and moral behavior over the course of their careers.
Similarly, since the vacancy Kavanaugh would fill came from a relatively moderate justice who served as a consistent swing vote, the Senate should not confirm any political extremist or ideologue. It’s a high standard, but for a very good reason.
Kavanaugh meets none of these standards.
Whereas Justice Anthony Kennedy served as the middle ground for the liberals and conservatives on the court before he stepped down, poll aggregating website FiveThirtyEight predicts that Kavanaugh would be the second most conservative justice on the court.
His decision to place burdens on a young undocumented woman who wanted an abortion and his arguments that a sitting president may be above the law have caused analysts to foretell radical decisions in the Court’s future.
By the end of Kavanaugh’s potential term, the Court could roll back pro-choice rights while it expands the right for an embattled Trump administration. Either way, he would force the Court into extremely conservative territory after an already 30-year-long conservative majority.
Beyond his uniquely radical streak, Kavanaugh has demonstrated behavior unfitting of someone set to decide the next decade of jurisprudence.
Kavanaugh’s records from working in the Bush White House reveal an unscrupulous character. In emails, Kavanaugh made racist jokes and bragged about his gambling habits, according to HuffPost.
Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy has pointed to other emails that show Kavanaugh’s involvement with Bush administration malfeasance. During Kavanaugh’s executive branch tenure, the White House took advantage of hacked emails from Democratic senators and pushed at least one controversial judge who believes same-sex attraction was equivalent to necrophilia or pedophilia.
Although Kavanaugh had previously claimed under oath that he had not been involved in such questionable behavior, his released emails demonstrate that he actively participated in such acts.
More important than any one political belief or poorly construed email is the credible allegation that he may have sexually assaulted and attempted to rape a woman when he was in high school.
The woman—Christine Blasey Ford—originally sent a confidential letter to her representative detailing the assault before she revealed herself to The Washington Post on Sunday Sept. 16.
“I thought [Kavanaugh] might inadvertently kill me,” Ford said to The Washington Post. “He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing.”
Whether it happened yesterday or thirty years from yesterday, no Supreme Court justice should be allowed to preside after such alleged violence. In a perfect world, no judge or justice with the power to decide cases concerning sexual assault or violence should be credibly accused of such assault or violence.
There are hundreds of millions of people in the U.S. and there are hundreds, if not thousands of people who could better fill Kennedy’s open seat. The Senate should not confirm someone so credibly accused of abuse.
Regardless of whether Kavanaugh himself is confirmed to the Supreme Court, the institution needs significant reforms if it is to become isolated from ideology and bad nominees.
Any time an ideologue comes up for confirmation, the stakes are incredibly high—if confirmed they would push the court in a politicized direction for decades. Democrats and Republicans thus push as hard as possible for their preferred ideologue, creating an unduly partisan process.
Even bad nominees like Kavanaugh or Clarence Thomas can receive the full support of the Republicans in Congress and the White House because they might push Republican policies.
To avert future moral failures, the political class should consider implementing reforms to mitigate the impact of any one justice. Some have suggested that the Court have a smaller scope to decrease their influence on national policies, while others have advocated for term limits or an 11-person court that would decrease the relative power of flawed justices.
Regardless of what the future holds for the institution, Kavanaugh should not be confirmed to sit on the highest court in the world. He is an immoral and extreme candidate who would irrevocably alter the course of everyday life.