Surely There Are Other Qualified Conservative Judges Who Are Not Judge Brett Kavanaugh: Senators Vote No!

2018-October-6

tags: #VoteNoOnKavanaugh, , Do The Right Thing, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, SCOTUS, Senate Judiciary Committee, senators, Vote No On Kavanaugh

By Martie Hevia | Blue Beach Song™

The Senate will vote later today, October 6th, at 2PM Pacific/5PM ET, on Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court of the United States. It is not too late. The Senators have not voted yet. You can still make a difference. Your voice matters. If you are concerned about this judge, if you think that we deserve better, then please call your Senators and ask them to vote “NO” today. Call the Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121.

NOTE: If you missed Dr. Blasey Ford’s testimony and the unhinged performance by Judge Brett Kavanaugh, then I urge you to read my previous post: Thoughts on Dr. Blasey Ford & Judge Brett Kavanaugh | #KavanaughHearing.

Surely There Are Other Conservative Judges

Surely, there is another conservative judge on that magical Federalist list, who is qualified and can be confirmed by the Senate, like they did with Justice Neil Gorsuch a little over a year ago.

Surely, the Republicans can find another conservative judge who has not done what Judge Kavanaugh has done; or been accused of doing what Judge Kavanaugh has been accused of doing; or behaved as deplorably as the way Judge Brett Kavanaugh behaved in the last day of his Supreme Court confirmation hearing.

Surely, the Republicans can find another conservative judge…who has not been accused by multiple women of drugging, sexually assaulting or raping them; and who could have the FBI conduct a full and thorough investigation into sexual assault allegations, without requiring the Senate and the White House to limit and hamstring the FBI to provide cover for him.

Surely, the Republicans can find another conservative judge…who has a more even temperament and is less politically partisan than what Judge Kavanaugh’s opening statement showed, after Dr. Blasey Ford’s testimony. A statement which he said he wrote himself and delivered in full anger, engaging in a politically partisan conspiratorial meltdown, which on its own is disqualifying for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.

Surely, the Republicans can find another conservative judge…who has not been rude, combative, and disrespectful to Senators, refusing to answer their questions during his confirmation hearing.

Surely, the Republicans can find another conservative judge…who does not believe the President of the United States is above the law and cannot be indicted or subpoenaed.

Surely, the Republicans can find another conservative judge…who appears to have received confidential documents stolen from Democrats when he worked for the G.W. Bush administration and lied about it, under oath.

Surely, the Republicans can find another conservative judge…who will not need Mr. Trump to block and hide more than 90% of their documents from the Senators. What are they hiding?

Surely, the Republicans can find another conservative judge…who was not involved in the controversial Bush v. Gore’s Supreme Court decision to stop the voter count, giving the presidency to George W. Bush, despite many anomalies in the voting process, missing bags of votes, hanging chads, a voting machine that deducted 16,000 votes from Gore, and many other activities that may have cheated voters.

Surely, the Republicans can find another conservative judge…who was not intimately involved for four years in the partisan Ken Starr investigation of President Clinton, which resulted in impeachment for lying about a consensual, albeit inappropriate, sexual relationship.

Surely, the Republicans can find another conservative judge…who did not lie under oath about their involvement as White House counsel in G.W. Bush administration’s anti-terrorism efforts, which included a controversial torture policy and treatment of detainees, as well as warrantless wiretapping.

Surely, the Republicans can find another conservative judge…who has not lied repeatedly under oath to the Senate Judiciary Committee, during their own confirmation hearing, about trivial things like their drinking in high school and college; about their yearbook page entries concerning the definitions of boofing, the devil’s triangle, ralphing, Renate alumnus, among others.

A judge who is willing to lie over small things, who has so little respect for the truth, the process, the law, and the Senators does not deserve to sit on any court, much less the highest court in the land.

But, surely, if nothing else, please watch the fifth day of his confirmation hearing, the day Dr. Blasey Ford testified. He proved to the world on that day that he did not have the even temperament to be a Supreme Court Justice. He shouted his opening statement. He was angry, combative, rude, and disrespectful to the Senators. He was sarcastic, flippant, and uncooperative, refusing at times to answer the Senators’ questions. He angrily repeated over and over that he likes beer and that he still likes beer. He ranted about conspiracy theories and the Democrats and the Clintons and the 2016 Election and Trump’s victory. He allowed his overt political partisanship, his Republican warrior, to show. He threatened the Senators that “what goes around comes around.”

This was a disqualifying, unparalleled, unfitting, and disturbing performance by a Supreme Court nominee. We deserve better. The country deserves better. The Supreme Court justices deserve a lifetime colleague that is worthy of them in temperament and intellect.

Senator Heitkamp Will Vote NO

Senator Markowski Will Vote PRESENT

Senator Collins Will Vote YES

It is sad to think that in Congress you have to be brave to do the right thing. I wish it were less remarkable, but it is. Still, there is one Senator, one woman, who will vote no on the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh at a great professional cost.

Senator Heidi Heitkamp is a brave role model, a profile in courage. She is more concerned about doing the right thing, than keeping her job. She has announced that she will vote NO, later today, on confirming Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. She will do this, even though by doing so, as most political pundits are predicting, Senator Heitkamp will lose the Senate seat she earned as a Democrat in a Red state.

Senator Lisa Murkowski, initially said she would be voting “no” on Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation, after spending an afternoon listening to some of her Alaskan constituents, survivors of sexual assault, who flew down to talk to her. However, she now cites Kavanaugh’s partisanship and says she will be voting “present,” as a “courtesy” to a fellow Republican Senator who wanted to vote “yes,” but had to attend his daughter’s wedding. By voting “present,” Senator Murkowski will not be changing the margin required to nominate Judge Kavanaugh. Perhaps she is unwilling to earn the ire of her party, Leader McConnell, and her fellow Republicans, as a result, she will not negatively impact Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination. In other words, even though she said she does not think he is the right man for the job, she is not willing to do something, to vote “no,” so that she can actually do something to prevent him from becoming the next Justice of the Supreme Court.

Senator Susan Collins, came out yesterday and said that she will be voting to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. In her view, the allegations and accusations of women survivors who claim Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted them did not rise to the level of “beyond a reasonable doubt.” Susan Collins is disingenuously hiding behind the criminal court’s requirement that a crime be proven beyond a “reasonable doubt.” She knows that this is not a criminal court, the standard is even lower than that of a civil trial, this is a job interview. There is not a person alive who would have gotten any job after the disturbing and concerning performance by Judge Brett Kavanaugh on the last day of his hearing.

We definitely need more women in Congress. We represent more than half of the U.S. population, but only a fraction of the House and the Senate. But what we need most are brave individuals in Congress, who are willing to do the right thing, make the tough votes, regardless of professional cost or fear. To paraphrase a line from the movie, The American President, you should care more about doing your job, than keeping your job.

Do The Right Thing

It is not too late. The Senate vote is still a few hours away and I pray that the Senators on both sides of the aisle – Democrats and Republicans – will do the right thing.

There are other qualified, conservative judges the Republicans can nominate to a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land whose temperament and judgement are not in question.

If you are concerned as a citizen, if you feel we can do better, if you feel the country and the Supreme Court deserve better, then please call your Senators early Saturday morning and afternoon. Call Senators Murkowski, Collins, Flake and Manchin, implore them to do the right thing and vote “NO” on Brett Kavanaugh.

And in November, as President Obama likes to say, don’t boo, vote.