Oh Boy! (Kavanaugh vs Ford)

The timing is suspicious. When I first read the allegations, I thought, “Now? This is coming out now? Just as he is about to be confirmed as a Supreme Court justice?”

Without the allegations, my thought on confirming Brett Kavanaugh for a life time role on the Supreme Court was already a “nay” because I thought his character was suspect. A lot had come out that made me suspicious of his character and his partisanship. You want someone to apply the law in a fair way, not in a partisan way. I also suspect that this was a person who would not apply his reasoning in a Solomonic manner, in other words, taking into account the context and intent and coming up with a legal reading that is best for everyone.

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My reasons for “nay”

Here are some of the things I learned that made me say “nay”:

1. He was part of the legal team that went after President Clinton and that whole affair lasted years without any findings except for Clinton lying about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. That was what they got him on: lying about his consensual relationship. My understanding is that Mr. Kavanaugh strongly argued that a sitting President can be subpoenaed and indicted. Okay, that is what happened. Now, he has flipped and is saying that a sitting President cannot be subpoenaed and indicted because it would be too disruptive in the running of the country. He was of one opinion under a Democratic President and now he conveniently changes his opinion under a Republican President (and he is a Republican). That flip is suspicious and strongly suggests partisanship.
2. And as a follow on to point one, no President is above the law. What he is suggesting now is that the President is above the law. Red flag, red flag, red flag! No, no President is above the law. If Bill Clinton was subpoenaed and indicted, then Trump can be subpoenaed and indicted, if Mueller’s investigation or the Senate Judiciary investigation comes to that point (right now, I’m ignoring the House Judiciary because it is a dud – they are compromised).
3. Recent emails suggest that he has lied to the Senate Committee (probably the Judiciary Committee) sometime back in 2006 and more recently. The emails relate to the House staffer stealing the Democratic Party’s strategic documents relating to some judiciary process. Apparently emails to Brett Kavanaugh discuss these stolen documents and according to folks in the know, someone as experienced as Kavanaugh would have known that the detailed information in the emails could not be gotten unless the materials were stolen. So the implications are either Kavanaugh was naïve, stupid or complicit. It’s hard to believe Kavanaugh as naïve or stupid since he became a judge on the Appellate Court so he has to be complicit. During both the 2006 and the more recent Senate hearings, Kavanaugh said that he did not find anything suggestive in the emails that the information had to have been stolen. So that suggests that not only Kavanaugh was complicit in the crime of the stealing of documents, he also lied to the committee.  
4. Other emails also suggest that Kavanaugh has lied to the Senate committee on matters pertaining to the confirmation of some judge to an Appellate Court. Kavanaugh said he was not heavily involved in the vetting of said judge but the emails suggest otherwise. Again, it appears Kavanaugh lied.

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So there was enough to nix his confirmation, but the Republicans were going to do it anyway. They have travelled too far down the path of corruption to vote in a fair manner and find someone else more suitable.

But now we have the attempted rape allegations and the timing of this outing of the accusations is highly suspicious. When I first heard of it, I was dismayed because the whole background atmosphere made the outing appear very dirty. I thought, “Oh boy, this is nasty. This is going to be a he said, she said drama with no good resolution.” I didn’t know who to believe but I was suspicious of motives. Later, as I read more materials, the accusation became more plausible. First, the accuser told her therapist about the alleged attempted rape about six years ago so the allegations appear less like a last minute made up story to derail the confirmation process. Second, she passed a lie detector test, although lie detector tests are not used in the court of law due to some people’s ability to game the tests. But still, the passing of the test moves her allegations closer to the plausible column.

Now comes out the articles about what it was like back in the ‘80s at his prep school. Oh boy.

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Lanyi’s recollection of a private school culture suffused by alcohol and drugs — and frequent if unreported sexual assault or misbehavior — is widely shared by students who attended those schools in the 1980s. It was, they recalled, an era marked by excess and illegality that went widely unchecked by parents and school leaders who were unaware or uninterested in cracking down on the behavior.

“These are the stories of our lives’: Prep school alumni hear echoes in assault claim”, Washington Post, Joe Heim, Sept. 19, 2018

“The letter’s message to Ford is unambiguous: “We believe you. Each one of us heard your story and not one of us was surprised. These are the stories of our lives and our friends’ lives.””

“These are the stories of our lives’: Prep school alumni hear echoes in assault claim”, Washington Post, Joe Heim, Sept. 19, 2018

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First the tales of drinking. Then the fact that he was some treasurer or head of some drinking Keg Club. Then the old classmates, who was at his prep school at the same time he was, telling stories about the drinking, the parties, and the “sexual attacks” on girls. It was a culture of elite boys getting away with bad behavior. Then a lot of women came out saying, “Yes, it’s possible because I was attacked too and I never told anyone about it.”

The one thing that bothered me was the fact this supposedly took place about 30 years ago, when he was 17 years old. Should we punish the man for the actions done in his youth 30 something years ago? I was troubled by that because a lot of people do dumb things in their youth. Should we forever punish them and possibly forever deny them jobs? What about forgiveness and mercy?

Another writer wrote about how she was invited to go somewhere by a guy she had been eyeing and she was later attacked in the car. She never told anybody but was ashamed. Then the following year, she went out with another guy in almost the same scenario and the writer said “You would think I would have learned from the first time, but no, I went out with him.” But this time, the guy treated her properly. Then the writer went on to say that the guy who attempted to rape her later wrote on her year book that he wished things hadn’t turned out the way they did and even later, apologized to her with tears in his eyes for his behavior. In this instance, forgiveness and mercy is the right answer and the writer did forgive him. He knew he did wrong and his repentance showed in his apology.

So should we punish men for their callous actions in their youth 30+ years ago? We can’t absolve them of their crimes or bad deeds just because of their young age because 17 years old boys ALREADY KNOW THAT SEXUALLY ATTACKING GIRLS IS WRONG. They know. The five boys, aged 14, 15 and maybe 16 years old, were tried for gang raping the New York jogger, got convicted and went to jail. (Although it was found later that they were actually innocent). So why should Brett Kavanaugh’s situation be different? He knew then what he was doing was wrong – why shut the door, turn up the music and put his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream? He knew what he was doing was wrong.

But we can still apply mercy and forgiveness but it’s going to be difficult. He would have to show that he was really sorry for his behavior and I’m not sure that he has ever really reached that point. Cory Booker once wrote a thoughtful article about his own bad behavior and how he evolved, but I don’t think Brett Kavanaugh has done anything similar. In 2015, he made a comment about “what happens in George Prep stays in George Prep”. And his friend Mark Judge, who was in the room at the time of the alleged event, wrote about his wasted drinking years. It doesn’t sound like either one of them has regretted their drinking and possibly other bad behaviors. It’s more like “wink, wink, heh heh heh” kind of acknowledgement. Add to that Brett Kavanaugh’s strong partisanship, his complicity in the stolen Democratic documents and his lying to the Senate Judiciary Committee tells me that his ugly character was formed by his teens and has never changed since.

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Making excuses for the alleged behavior of Brett Kavanaugh “is going to teach young boys that they can get away with things. Excusing this behavior just says that they can still be successful.”

“Boys will be boys? As Kavanaugh debate rages, teens are saying some adults still don’t get it.” Washington Post, Samantha Schmidt, Sept 21, 2018

“Maybe he didn’t mean it and maybe he was a kid,” Berdia said of Kavanaugh. “But saying it’s okay means some other girl is going to be sexually assaulted in a basement because that’s okay as long as he turns out to be a successful adult.”

“Boys will be boys? As Kavanaugh debate rages, teens are saying some adults still don’t get it.” Washington Post, Samantha Schmidt, Sept 21, 2018

That overused phrase, “boys will be boys,” frustrates high school students like Klein and Luke Chinman, 15, of Pittsburgh. “Whatever age a person is, it’s never okay to sexually assault or harass someone,” Luke said. “They should not get any free passes for doing any of these terrible things to other people. They need to know this and everyone else needs to know this.”

“Boys will be boys? As Kavanaugh debate rages, teens are saying some adults still don’t get it.” Washington Post, Samantha Schmidt, Sept 21, 2018

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Finally, we need to think about what kind of message we are sending to our youths. Recent articles have been written describing how girls are still going through these attacks and are not reporting it. And the kids are saying we adults “just don’t get it.” It is really important to read these articles because they describe that this culture of bad boy behavior still exists and our teenagers are undergoing the same kind of thing that we went through in the ‘80s. They wish we would open our eyes.

No, I don’t want Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court justice. This whole process stinks to high heaven.