\u201cRules in a Knife Fight \u2013 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid\u201d<\/a><\/p>\nToday, the United States Senate will begin the final process of voting on Brett Kavanaugh. \u00a0The truncated and carefully circumscribed FBI investigation is done, and it is now up to the Senators to decide. \u00a0Brett Kavanaugh has been accused of committing sexual assault as a seventeen year old.\u00a0 It\u2019s thirty-six years later, and he has been nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States.\u00a0 The victim, Christine Blasey-Ford, has convincingly testified, but there is little other evidence to back up her testimony.<\/p>\n
Kavanaugh has not been truthful to the Senate Judiciary Committee.\u00a0 In testimony he has claimed that his high school youth and his college career was spent in training for basketball and studying, and that he liked beer.\u00a0 What has been revealed is that Brett was a serious partier, drinking to excess, and like most young men, fascinated with sex.\u00a0 While there is nothing that is so \u201cwrong\u201d with the partying \u00a0(as opposed to sexual assault), there is definitely an issue with a Supreme Court nominee lying in sworn testimony.<\/p>\n
The Senate nomination process is not a legal process, even though the majority Republicans brought in a \u201cfemale prosecutor assistant\u201d to question the victim.\u00a0 So the legal standard for criminal proof, beyond a \u201creasonable doubt\u201d is an unreasonable standard to apply here.\u00a0 \u201cBeyond a reasonable doubt\u201d is 90% sure; it seems clear we will never reach that level in the question of sexual assault in the Kavanaugh case.<\/p>\n
But Brett Kavanaugh isn\u2019t going to jail if he doesn\u2019t get confirmed by the Senate.\u00a0 In fact, he will be returning to his Appellate Court seat, where he has a lifetime appointment.\u00a0 The Senate confirmation process is not a criminal process, it is effectively a job interview.\u00a0 So what burden of proof should be used?<\/p>\n
The standard for civil cases (lawsuits) is \u201ca preponderance of the evidence.\u201d\u00a0 When all of the evidence is considered, which side has \u201cmore than 50%.\u201d\u00a0 Is this the appropriate standard for evaluating a Supreme Court nominee?<\/p>\n
Kavanaugh, with multiple women claiming he assaulted them in his youth, might still \u201cpass\u201d this standard.\u00a0Against each victim\u2019s testimony, there seems to be only a \u201c50\/50, he said\/she said\u201d level of proof.\u00a0 But on the question of lying to the Senate Committee about his youth, it seems like we are way beyond even the criminal standard. \u00a0We are certain, 100%.<\/p>\n
So, in a job interview, a potential employee lies.\u00a0 He lies about his youth, about the meaning of the \u201cdirty words\u201d listed in his yearbook, about his activities, and about his drinking.\u00a0 He lies about things he doesn\u2019t have to lie about, events and actions that would be forgiven as youthful indiscretions; superseded by a career of service to the Republican Party and the government.<\/p>\n
The question then is why is he lying, under oath, to the US Senate? Even in this \u201c#MeToo\u201d era, the sexual assault evidence may not be convincing enough for many Senators to vote no.\u00a0 But whatever the reason Kavanaugh uses to justify his lying, or worse, whatever causes him to not remember that these are lies, should lead Senators to question his fitness for office.<\/p>\n
An appointment to the Supreme Court is for a lifetime.\u00a0 A reasonable doubt, say, ten percent, about the fitness of a candidate should be enough to \u201cgive pause\u201d to even the most partisan Senator.\u00a0 But it probably will not, and Mr. Kavanaugh, despite all of his flaws, lies, and possible assaults; will be placed on the Court.<\/p>\n
Republicans are making a mistake in doing so, and not just because Kavanaugh has committed perjury.\u00a0By placing this flawed man on the Court, they are setting Democrats up with an opportunity to \u201cundo\u201d history.\u00a0 A Democratic strategy may be to wait until one of “theirs” is back in the White House, then re-open the investigation into Kavanaugh.\u00a0 When an unfettered investigation takes place, with more and more facts laid out about his behavior, then it won\u2019t be a nomination, but an impeachment and removal process that begins.<\/p>\n
The Republican cry will be \u201cunfair\u201d and \u201cun-American,\u201d but of course all rules have already been tossed aside in this \u201cknife fight,\u201d and the majority opinion on the Court for generations is at stake. \u00a0To protect “their seat” on the Court, Republicans should step back to see the long-term effect of confirming this wounded and vulnerable candidate.\u00a0 He will still be wounded and vulnerable when the Republican majority protection is gone.<\/p>\n
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Rules in a Knife Fight \u201cRules in a Knife Fight \u2013 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid\u201d Today, the United States Senate will begin the final process of voting on Brett Kavanaugh. \u00a0The truncated and carefully circumscribed FBI investigation is done, and it is now up to the Senators to decide. \u00a0Brett Kavanaugh has been … Continue reading “Rules in a Knife Fight”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nRules in a Knife Fight : Our America - 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