The Kavanaugh decision was sadly a bitter partisan fight
rather than a candid evaluation of whether the man should be confirmed to one
of the most important jobs in America.
The few senators who could have voted against confirmation all
rationalized their yes votes on the basis of reasonable doubt, as if they were
deciding whether to put Kavanaugh in jail or throw him out of the bar. They uniformly described their decision in
terms of a criminal trial. They made a
decision to confirm Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court justice because no one had proved that he committed sexual assault
beyond a reasonable doubt.
But this was not a criminal trial. It was a decision on whether Kavanaugh was
the right person to put in a lifelong position with the highest and most
important court in our land. I have hired
dozens of people in my work life for much less important jobs than this
one. I look for candidates that have all
of the qualities that I need for the job.
If there is any doubt about their capabilities, then I look at others
because I want the best person for the job.
There may be a reasonable doubt about whether Kavanaugh committed
sexual assault, though I find it very hard to believe that a person like Ford
would create a story out of whole cloth that would turn her world upside down
and endanger her family and future. But
the reasonable possibility that he did assault her, along with multiple other
indications of a less than savory background and temperament – in particular
his testimony before the senate judiciary committee – would certainly
disqualify him for one of the most important positions in America in the eyes
of any objective decision maker. Why
settle for a man with so many questions surrounding him when there are
certainly many other incredible candidates?
The answer is of course that this process has little or
nothing to do with qualifications. It is
purely political, and it is just another manifestation of the rancorous
partisanship that contaminates our political life.
