Eugene Robinson: Thursday's victims include Senate, Supreme Court
If that hearing could possibly have gone worse, please tell me how.
Christine Blasey Ford was the soul of credibility, which should be no surprise. She is a doctor of psychology in the midst of a distinguished career. Her voice was both strong and vulnerable as she recounted the details of the sexual assault she says she suffered at the clumsy, drunken hands of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. She didn’t sound like a partisan Democrat. She sounded like a determined survivor.
Kavanaugh sounded like a man fighting for his life. That was no surprise, either, but his tone was unexpected. He shouted. He wept. He flatly accused Democratic senators on the panel of timing Ford’s allegation as a last-ditch effort to prevent his confirmation — a startling allegation from a sitting federal appellate judge, let alone a nominee for the Supreme Court.
The body language of the Republicans on the panel reflected the bipolar nature of the day. Ford’s compelling testimony slumped their shoulders and furrowed their brows. Kavanaugh’s fiery self-defense seemed to animate them, buck them up, and perhaps rescue his nomination’s chance of approval in committee.
We should have known that unless Ford or Kavanaugh somehow fell apart in the witness chair, the nation would be left with a dilemma. What I didn’t fully realize was how damaging and divisive that dilemma may ultimately prove to be.
Republicans have the votes — and those on the committee may now have the will — to “plow right through this” all the way to confirmation. But if they do, especially following the partisan allegations Kavanaugh made against Democrats in the Senate — many Americans may always suspect his decisions are motivated by politics rather than jurisprudence.
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/robinson-thursdays-victims-include-senate-supreme-court/
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