Why Kavanaugh?<\/p>\n
After last week\u2019s hearings, it\u2019s difficult to understand:\u00a0 why did President Trump pick Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court?\u00a0 And, now that there is an FBI investigation going on, why is President Trump (despite his public statements) limiting the investigation to four witnesses, and perhaps even restricting what questions those witnesses can be asked?<\/p>\n
Clearly, Brett Kavanaugh has staked his entire career on this nomination.\u00a0 If he fails here; if corroborating evidence shows that he committed perjury in front of the Committee, and even worse, an attempted rape as a teenager: \u00a0his current judgeship on the Appellate Court, his license to practice law, and perhaps his freedom is in jeopardy.<\/p>\n
Judging from the reactions of the Republican Majority, there must have been some warning that Kavanaugh had problems with his background.\u00a0 When the letter from Dr. Ford became public, in only twenty-four hours a letter was produced with sixty-five female high school friends (not classmates \u2013 he went to an all-boys private school) attesting to Kavanaugh\u2019s good behavior as a teenager.<\/p>\n
And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was well known for saying he didn\u2019t want Kavanaugh as the nominee.\u00a0 Perhaps McConnell was concerned backlash from Kavanaugh\u2019s work on the Starr Investigation into President Clinton (resulting in Clinton\u2019s impeachment,) but he might well have heard some rumors of \u201clife as a Georgetown Prep Boy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why does Kavanaugh appeal to President Trump?<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s get the ugly ones out of the way. \u00a0Kavanaugh has problems with accusations of sexual assault and impropriety; certainly a situation the President shares.\u00a0 And Kavanaugh is tied into the \u201cClinton Conspiracy World:\u201d he spent millions of taxpayer dollars re-investigating again and again Clinton staff member Vince Foster\u2019s suicide, trying to tie the Clinton\u2019s to his tragic death.\u00a0 He played \u201chard ball\u201d with President Clinton, demanding that he be questioned about the intimate details of his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.\u00a0 (No wonder Kavanaugh thinks that the Clintons were trying to get \u201cpaybacks\u201d \u2013 he\u2019s earned them.)<\/p>\n
All of these are attractions for a President who continues to use Hillary Clinton as his b\u00eate noire.\u00a0And Trump is antagonistic to Bill Clinton as well; seeing him as \u201cgetting away\u201d with same things he did.<\/p>\n
Above that, Kavanaugh is a disciple of the Federalist Society, and represents the culmination of a forty year program to overtake the Supreme Court.\u00a0 The Federalist Society views themselves as \u201coriginalists\u201d in interpreting the Constitution:\u00a0 taking the original meaning of the authors as the only meaning for the document.\u00a0 That the authors didn\u2019t envision the problems of the current era can be solved only through legislation passed by Congress, not be expanding the interpretation of the authors words.<\/p>\n
This view puts a premium on the property rights of individuals, and tight restrictions on the powers of both the legislature and the judiciary.\u00a0 A good example is the Supreme Court decision in Citizen\u2019s United<\/em>, where the Court viewed corporations as having free speech rights under the First Amendment, and therefore able to donate money directly to political campaigns.\u00a0 Further Court decisions have removed limits on much of campaign funding, calling dollar donations as an exercise in unlimited free speech.<\/p>\n The \u201cright to privacy\u201d integral to the Roe v Wade <\/em>decision is another area of law that the Federalist Society would like to restrict.\u00a0 That expansion of the Due Process clause of the 14th\u00a0<\/sup>Amendment is seen as far beyond the original scope of the authors.<\/p>\n Essentially then, the \u201coriginalists\u201d would require that to expand the Constitution to meet the needs and views of a modern era, the Constitution would need to be constantly amended, a process that has only been done seventeen times in since 1791.\u00a0 This onerous exercise would prevent any kind of more rapid adaptation.<\/p>\n And Kavanaugh has espoused a view of the Presidency centralizing all authority of the Executive Branch in one office.\u00a0 President Trump, in Kavanaugh\u2019s view, should be immune from not just indictment, but subpoena and any \u201cquestioning\u201d by Executive branch departments (particularly Justice) as he has ultimate and total authority over them.<\/p>\n Kavanaugh sees the only check on the President as legislation passed by Congress and impeachment and removal from office.\u00a0 That view particularly must make him very popular with the current President.<\/p>\n Mitch McConnell has pledged to \u201cram Kavanaugh through.\u201d\u00a0 Trump even last night called Kavanaugh a man of; \u201c\u2026really quality character, one of the most accomplished legal minds of our time, who has suffered\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Regardless of the results of the FBI investigation, the Senate will vote on the fate of Judge Kavanaugh.\u00a0 Trump and McConnell are \u201call in;\u201d there\u2019s more for them to gain even in defeat (by the \u201cDemocrat conspiracy\u201d Kavanaugh ranted about) then by withdrawal.\u00a0 Buckle up for this week!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"