Apparently America has still not quite recovered from Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings a year ago. Last week the justice spoke at the Federalist Society’s annual convention in Washington, D.C. and received a three-minute standing ovation from the mainly conservative gathering. Justices Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito also attended. Kavanaugh spoke and thanked his supporters for their kindness during those contentious days and showed some emotion as he did so.
“My friends paid a heavy price, way too heavy a price,” the justice said at one point. “In the midst of it all, they stood up and they stood by me.”
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles last Sunday an assembled dinner crowd of the Southern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) gave Dr. Christine Blasey Ford her own standing ovation. Ford is the psychologist who came forward during Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings last year and leveled accusations that he sexually assaulted her in high school. Ford received the “Courage” award from the ACLU for making her claims against Kavanaugh.
“When I came forward last September, I did not feel courageous,” she told the assembled crowd. “I was simply doing my duty as a citizen.” It was clear from the crowd’s reaction to her award that they still enthusiastically believe every word of her story.
The contrast between the two events and the reactions of the attendees at each highlights the continuing partisan divide over the allegations. Though none of her allegations were proven or corroborated (and many of the witnesses contradicted her story), she is still celebrated on the Left, much as Anita Hill continues to be all these years after Justice Clarence Thomas’ confirmation hearings.
For the record, any act of sexual assault or mistreatment of women is despicable and contrary to God’s law and the civil law. But the story of Ford’s accusations and the trail of evidence (or lack thereof) that came out during the hearings, as recounted in a recent book, Justice on Trial, by authors Carrie Severino and Mollie Hemingway, overwhelmingly presented a strong case for dismissing Ford’s allegations.
Recently Dr. Ford’s lawyers even admitted that part of the reason Ford, an abortion supporter, came forward at all was to prevent Kavanaugh, a perceived vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, from making it to the bench. That admission merely solidified conservatives’ suspicions that all Supreme Court nominations now revolve around how the nominee will vote on the issue. To the Left, who turned to the courts to force legalization of abortion rather than attempt to win via the democratic process, the Supreme Court belongs to them.
For all of its polls and surveys the Left commissions that supposedly “prove” that abortion on demand is overwhelmingly popular, the reality is more nuanced than that. Not willing to leave matters to chance, the Left’s efforts continue to focus upon each new Supreme Court nomination.
That’s why Kavanaugh wasn’t the first, nor will he be the last high court nominee to face the reputation-destroying charges we’ve unfortunately come to expect at Supreme Court confirmation hearings.
