An open letter to the US Senate: Why you should vote no on Judge Brett Kavanagh

Dear Senators, 

I’m writing you to urge you to vote no on the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court of the United States. He has, almost since the moment of his nomination by President Trump, betrayed a troubling tendency to bend the truth or lie when is suits his purposes.

Judge Kavanaugh faces some serious and credible accusations about his past behavior. Leave those allegations to one side. We may never know, to our satisfaction what the truth is in those allegations and good, honest people can be agnostic on the question of did he, or didn’t he. However, while we may not ever be fully satisfied we know the facts of his past, we are confronted with his present behavior. This present Brett Kavanaugh should not inspire confidence in any one that he has the right intellectual commitments or temperament for a position on the bench of the highest court in our land. 

I will give only a brief over view of the lies and dishonesty that we have seen from Judge Kavanaugh.  The list won’t be exhaustive.

1.    When he accepted the nomination to the court he praised President Trump in the following way. “No President has ever consulted more widely or talked with more people from more backgrounds to seek input about a Supreme Court nomination.” For any other position this kind of dishonest flattery might not matter. In a future Supreme Court Judge whose judgments and pronouncements must be measured, logically sound and evidence based, such a statement is ill fitting, and indicative of a comfort with disregarding the truth. It seems unlikely that a President who detests reading, spends most of his time watching television news, according to credible reporting, did a great deal of research or talked very widely. In any event there is no way Kavanaugh could possibly presume to know such a thing, and yet before the nation, and directly in front of the president and his own family he made such a statement.  

2.    He appears to have lied under oath several times. He stated he had no connections to Yale and got in by “busting his tail.” However, he did have connections to Yale. His grandfather attended and Judge Kavanaugh would have been a Legacy student. That isn’t a crime, or even indicative of a lack of qualifications.  However it was a demonstrable falsehood, under oath no less. How can we trust the integrity of someone who lies about something so verifiably false?  He said, “I have no connections there [Yale].” While in fact he did. He may have worked hard, and been qualified, but he definitely had a connection to Yale. He lied about this. In addition to this, he was referring to his getting into Yale Law School. He went to Yale as an undergrad and that definitely would have had an effect on his ability to network and get into the Yale law school. None of this is bad, or illegal or unsettling. What is bad about all of this is his lying about having no connections to Yale while under oath. The job to which he is being appointed is not as a short order cook, but to the highest court in the land.

3.   Kavanaugh has tried to paint himself as a kind of choirboy. Why he has elected to portray himself this way I couldn’t guess. However his friends from both high school and college along with many of his own accounts flatly contradict this image he originally tried to paint of himself. When questioned about this past he has not been forthright, only grudgingly conceding the truth if he had been caught out. Under oath though he would not admit to what “Devils’ Triangle,” or “boofing” was (instead he offered definitions his classmates at the time quickly shot down), what he and his friends meant by “Renate Alumnus.” Judge Kavanaugh’s attempt to suggest that it was a kind of affection for a friend is belied by the other entries he and his friends had about Renate. They seem to specifically be referring to sexual conquest. Again, it isn’t a crime to like sex, or drinking beer (the underage drinking Kavanaugh engaged in would have been a crime-but one for which most of us would be found guilty). It isn’t even a crime to date a person who is known to have sex pretty early in a relationship. That is not what is troubling about Kavanaugh’s youthful errors. What is troubling is his inability to tell the truth about his past. 

4.    “Beach Week Ralph Club- biggest contributor. Judge Kavanagh seems to contradict his own words when he told the Senate Judiciary committee that entry in his high school yearbook that was a reference to his “weak” stomach. He is certainly in conflict with the recollections of his friends at the time, who say he wasn’t know for having a weak stomach, but rather for being a sloppy drunk. Again, Kavanaugh wouldn’t be the only person in Washington DC to have been a sloppy, belligerent drunk in their youth. He does seem to be unwilling to tell the truth about that past though, whether under oath, or not. 

5.    He as a history of being a partisan player, and has worked most consistently as a person whose raison d’etre is to see Republicans triumph over Democrats, to see a very specific brand of conservatism win at all costs over any liberal ideas. This isn’t a crime either. His angry ranting display, the disrespect, and hostility he showed Democratic Senators, his refusal to answer their questions must cast doubt on his ability to objectively perform the duties that are supposed to be above mere party affiliation. Judge Kavanaugh is a person who, according to David Brock, mouthed the word “Bitch” whenever he saw a picture of Hillary Clinton. Such partisan commitments are also no crime, but they can’t be part of a Supreme Court Justice’s deliberations. The Supreme Court is supposed to be a non-partisan place where our best and brightest examine the law, and let that knowledge of the law guide them. After Kavanaugh’s angry ranting, and his history as a partisan player, do you think he can set his party affiliation aside and objectively parse the law?

At the end of the day, we will probably never know, to our satisfaction, whether or not Ford or Kavanaugh are telling the truth, or if they both are, or if the truth is more complicated. The events in question are now decades in the past. What we can assess, and what you Senator must honestly assess, is whether Judge Kavanaugh’s behavior in the here and the now reveals a person brimming with personal integrity, and deep personal commitments to honesty and truth, or if his behavior reveals a character deeply unfit to the highest court in our land. We live in a deeply partisan world, but don’t let the specter of losing an election, or being criticized by the President or members of your party stop you from making the right choice. History is watching, as is the nation. Do the right thing and vote no on Kavanaugh.