Kavanaugh in 2015: A Judge Must Keep "Emotions in Check" and Not Be a "Political Partisan"

[fleur-de-lisa]

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/10/kavanaugh-in-2015-a-judge-must-keep-emotions-in-check-and-not-be-a-political-partisan/

Kavanaugh’s performance at the hearing immediately raised questions about his judicial temperament. During his first set of confirmation hearings, Kavanaugh had declared, “The Supreme Court must never, never be viewed as a partisan institution.” Yet here he was now hurling politicized vitriol. His remarks, Judith Resnik, a law professor at Yale, told the New York Times, were “partisan and not judicious.” And legal experts quickly began discussing whether Kavanaugh—whose previous work for independent counsel Kenneth Starr and the George W. Bush administration had already cast him as one of the more partisan federal judges—could be a fair-minded and politics-free arbiter as a Supreme Court justice.

Judicial temperament—and its importance—is a topic much discussed by legal mavens. One described it this way: “Judicial temperament, at its best, is a form of restraint that appears as an even-handedness of vision, a thorough-going fairness that eschews anger in favor of reason and clings to respect of all parties as an essential ingredient for the operation of justice.” Certainly, Kavanaugh’s testimony did not meet those standards.

And Kavanaugh’s appearance might not have met his own standards for judicial temperament.

In 2015, Kavanaugh gave a speech—entitled “The Judge as Umpire”—at Columbus Law School at Catholic University. It was during this event that he now-infamously said, “What happens at Georgetown Prep stays at Georgetown Prep.” But later in the speech, Kavanaugh explained the importance of judicial temperament. He described the attributes required for a “good judge”: to have the “proper demeanor,” to keep “our emotions in check,” to be “calm amidst the storm,” to “demonstrate civility.” And Kavanaugh added, “Don’t be a jerk.”

[maxsolomon]

1. UNLESS Democrats are mean or "Political"

Then it's on.

[dalton99a]

2. Kick