If the Left’s Trump Derangement Syndrome was still in doubt, the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court erased all of it.
Before President Trump even nominated Kavanaugh, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer painted the nominee as an enemy of women and children. In one tweet, Schumer claimed “Kavanaugh has taken numerous positions that question his ability to be an independent check on President Trump.” In another, he argued “Kavanaugh frequently sides with powerful interests rather than defending the rights of all Americans.”
The tweets are vague for a reason. Schumer is determined to oppose any Trump nominee, regardless of his or her individual merits. The Senate Democrat also decided to criticize Judge Amy Coney Barrett, another Supreme Court contender at the time, because she “has given every indication that she will be an activist judge.”
The blatant politicking got worse after Kavanaugh’s official nomination. The organizers of the anti-Trump Women’s March mistakenly led with this response: “In response to Donald Trump’s nomination of XX to the Supreme Court of the United States, the Women’s March released the following statement …” In the next paragraph, their statement included the name, but it was misspelled as “Cavenaugh.”
Schumer, meanwhile, justified his opposition because Kavanaugh was selected from a list of 25 candidates compiled by the right-leaning Federalist Society. Without even delving into his specific qualifications, Schumer claimed Kavanaugh must be “one of these hard-right judges” because of his connection to the Federalist Society.
Even Matthew Yglesias, one of Vox’s most left-wing writers, conceded Kavanaugh is a “very normal Republican pick” — high praise coming from Yglesias, who infamously celebrated Andrew Breitbart’s death.
But the Vox columnist went on to oppose President Trump’s nominee because, well, President Trump is a threat to American democracy. In his words: “The fact that Kavanaugh is normal underscores how real the risk is to democracy. It doesn’t mitigate it.” Ygelsias concludes: “Putting Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court is very normal Republican politics, and that’s exactly the problem.”
You can’t make this stuff up.
It wasn’t so long ago that even Democrats trusted Kavanaugh to do his job. Why? Because he’s an exceptional jurist who takes the Constitution seriously.
In 2006, the Senate signed off on Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in a 57-36 vote. Four Senate Democrats supported Kavanaugh, including Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware. At a time when Democrats were obstructing many of President George W. Bush’s judicial nominees, Kavanaugh was one of the few to cross the finish line.
How times have changed. Last year, Carper shoved aside his bipartisan bona fides and opposed Judge Neil Gorsuch’s nomination. He now calls Kavanaugh a “profound disappointment” and challenges Republicans to “bring on the fight.” Schumer similarly vowed to oppose the nominee with “everything I’ve got.”
When they do, take it for what it is — partisan politics, and nothing more.
Senate Republicans should ignore the hot air and do what’s right: Confirm Brett Kavanaugh. To quote the one and only Matthew Yglesias, he is a “very normal Republican pick.”
