The very prominent libertarian legal scholar Richard Epstein, contemplating the current Kavanaugh/Ford ugliness, asks “What sane judge would like to be the next Supreme Court nominee?”
Perhaps a person’s willingness to accept nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States should, in and of itself, be deemed sufficient evidence of poor judgment to deny confirmation?
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Incidentally, I’ve heard that there’s a letter out there in which someone who declines to be questioned further on the matter claims to have recently remembered seeing Judge Kavanaugh’s accuser rob a liquor store nearly four decades ago. The letter writer might have been a bit under the influence at the time, and can’t remember where the liquor store was or in what year the robbery happened or whether the criminal accuser of Judge Kavanaugh had one accomplice or three accomplices.
Anyway, the bottom line is that the credibility of Judge Kavanaugh’s accuser is now definitively in tatters.
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Incidentally, should Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court fail, there’s an obvious back-up candidate to take his place — one who would, I’m sure, have the support of virtually all Democrats:
In my judgment, Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI) has now achieved the rank of Leading Legal Thinker in the United States:
“Sen. Hirono: Men Need To ‘Shut Up,’ Kavanaugh Accuser Needs To Be Believed And I Believe Her”
Human rights and the rule of law would be secure under Justice Hirono. In fact, I’m not even sure that the other eight justices of the Supreme Court will even have a role to play after she is seated on the bench.
A Daniel come to judgment! yea, a Daniel!
O wise young judge, how I do honour thee!
(Shylock, in William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice IV.i)
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I did not think anybody could so soon top the recent Kavanaugh hearings held by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) memorably and aptly termed “an intergalactic freak show.” After all, who knew that (the inevitable future presidential candidate) Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) is actually Spartacus? (See “Cory Booker Dodges Questions about Kavanaugh Document Release” and “Cory Booker Is Embarrassing Himself” and “Cory Booker’s 911 Calls” and “Cory Booker: ‘It Would Be Irresponsible Not’ to Consider Presidential Run.”) And that distinguished senator — who, it seems, originally hails from from ancient Thrace — had stiff competition from (the inevitable future presidential candidate) Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA). (See “Kamala Harris Wins the Democrats’ Kavanaugh Primary,” which was foreshadowed during the summer: “Is Kamala Harris the Future of American Politics?”)
In several important ways, though, Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) has, if I dare use the word, trumped them both and shown how a real seasoned professional does it:
“Feinstein’s Inexcusable Handling of the Kavanaugh Accusation”
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