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Sunday, October 07, 2018

Some thoughts on Justice Kavanaugh


Some thoughts.

The notion that the Supreme Court is above politics and its decisions are based on the Constitution and the plain letter of the law is simply false and people recognize it.  That's why confirmation battles have become so bitter.  The Supreme Court is political, and its members are either ideologues or politicians, based on their particular philosophy.

Brett Kavanaugh has been widely supported by the Republican establishment. We will not know what that really means to the ideological orientation of the Supreme Court until he votes on several divisive issues. Keep in mind that many of the Justices appointed by Republican presidents (Warren, Brennan, Souter) have ruled as Liberals after getting on the court. Others, like former Justice Kennedy, were weathervanes, making decisions based on the direction the political winds in Washington DC were blowing.

The fight was so bitter over Kavanaugh because the Left feared that a weathervane would be replaced by a conservative ideologue.  The Court has been a key player in the clash of cultures giving the Left via judicial fiat what they could not achieve at the ballot box or via legislation.

The latest battle ground is gender.  The Left is pitting women against men. In an inversion of Sharia, it stands for the principle that female testimony is more credible than male testimony. It used the weapon of unsupported accusations by women as a way to prevent a potentially conservative judge to swing the Court against their use of law-fare as a way to reshape the culture.

Now that that assault has been repelled, it remains to be seen if Kavanaugh is truly devoted to the Constitution. Or is he, like John Roberts demonstrated in his decision on ObamaCare, going to make judgements based on political pressure from the Left.

I hope that Justice Kavanaugh is ideologically Conservative, but I suspect that his careful path to the Supreme Court shows a political animal. I suspect that no one gets there without mastering the politics of Washington.

Conclusion: cautious optimism.


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