In Consideration of Judge Brett Kavanaugh

While in local and state elections I vote based on the quality of the people, I have always been a Democrat when it came to national politics. That is changing.

No, I have not become a fan of Donald Trump. There is very little he stands for that I agree with. But as he has repeatedly said, and no doubt is entirely correct, elections have consequences.

If Hillary Clinton had won the presidency, Judge Kavanaugh would not have been on her list for the Supreme Court. That said, he certainly could have been. Judge Kavanaugh presents himself as an exceptional candidate for the Court. As to what happens to Justices when they arrive on the Court, it is one thing to be a Judge writing for a Law Journal and quite another to get up in the morning, look in the mirror and realize you are one of nine people who can control the fate of the country. Does he represent a threat to Roe v. Wade? Certainly more than anyone a Democrat would propose. But that does not mean there is necessarily going to be a reversal. One of the noted aspects of the attack on Judge Kavanaugh is the focus on his Law Review article stressing the need for the Presidents to be protected. The article goes on at length to point out the difficulties a President has in being involved in unrelated civil litigation or otherwise detracting from his office.

What is necessarily implied is that we need those protections, in Judge Kavanaugh’s view to protect the President and it means those protections are not there at present. Which means, since things have not changed since he wrote it, President Trump has no protections. The article is more of an attack on him than one that serves as a basis for defending it.

And if Judge Kavanaugh is not confirmed, it is going to be hard to imagine what level of candidate would be.

The circumstances are such that both parties need to grow up. We need to nominate candidates with integrity, candidates with honor. If the Democrats do I would be happy to vote for their candidate, but if they do not, I may well sit on the sidelines. There are simply too many reasons for me not to support President Trump and his beliefs, not the least of which is his interaction with NATO and our other allies. It is not to say that he does not have valid points. He does. But those points can be raised in a way that does not burn bridges needed for cooperation to protect us all.