Republicans must remember how the opposition treated Kavanaugh
Hardened by experience, along with knowing that Barratt will face a similar treatment to what Kavanaugh received, the Republicans should stand strong.
Let it be made clear that Senate Democrats have some justification in demanding that President Trump must not replace the highly-respected late justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court before the general election, scheduled for next month, takes place. Senate Republicans set this precedent in 2016 when they refused to hold a hearing (let alone a vote) on President Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland to replace Antonin Scalia.
Senate Republicans viciously prevented any attempt to start the process of potentially appointing Garland to a lifetime position on the highest court in the land. They knew, if Garland had been confirmed on the Senate floor, that it would shift the ideological balance of the court into a more liberal direction, which is why they threw the Hail-Mary into hoping that Trump would defeat Hillary Clinton.
Democrats want to do the same with Biden, as they are terrified of an overwhelmingly conservative Supreme Court, which would take decades to filter out even if the Democrats manage to win elections. Supreme Court Justices are appointed on the ‘advice and consent’ of the Senate, so the Senate Republicans and Democrats of both 2016 and 2020 were, and are acting within their constitutionally prescribed roles – that is, supporting justices they like, and opposing ones they don’t, although expressing this in a highly questionable manner.
However, Republicans are more than justified in ramming through the confirmation of Amy Coney Barratt, who Trump nominated in September less than two weeks after the passing of Ginsburg; if there is one side that deserves a large dose of Karma, it’s undoubtedly the Democrats. Do you remember how they treated Brett Kavanaugh?
With the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy in 2018, Trump elected to fill the empty seat with Kavanaugh, who was serving on the Court of Appeals at the time. Senate Republicans had the numbers, and the American Bar Association declared Trump’s pick ‘well-qualified’ (the highest rating they bestow). Kavanaugh was well on his way to the top of the legal career pyramid.
Then, along came a professor by the name of Christine Blasey Ford who accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a party sometime in the 1980s. Ford could not recall where the alleged crime took place, nor had any corroborating witnesses, but her testimony was enough for the Democrats to smear Kavanaugh as a rapist.
The floor of the Senate Judiciary committee was mutilated into a kangaroo court where Kavanaugh was automatically guilty; the liberal-dominated media provided wall-to-wall coverage about the gang rapist frat-boy from hell. As intended, this only served to convince millions of Americans that Ford’s unreliable allegation was the cold hard truth. The #metoo movement, further energizing the hysterical mob with the mantra ‘believe all women’, became a political weapon. It was the most horrifying case of a character-destroying witch hunt since the Red Scare of the 1950s.
Kavanaugh’s confirmation on the Senate floor became less about his qualifications and competence for the position, but rather a referendum on whether a US citizen should be afforded the right to due process – to be tried by a court of law rather than by a politically charged mob.
Republicans must remember how the opposition treated Kavanaugh. They must never sink to their level out of petty revenge, but should be aware of how far the Democrats are willing to sink into the abyss in their lust for power and influence. Hardened by experience, along with knowing that Barratt will face a similar treatment to what Kavanaugh received, the Republicans should stand strong. If they break under the pressure, then the Supreme Court, as an institution, is lost forever.
