Kavanaugh hearing more of a circus than an attempt to find truth
I watched almost the entire hearing and felt the pain demonstrated by Judge Kavanaugh and the fear of Dr. Ford. Sadly, the hearing was more of a circus than any real attempt to find out the truth.
The political parties spent way too much time bolstering their positions than showing any humanity toward the witnesses or concern for the truth. (Why not bring Mark Judge to testify?) The viciousness towards their fellow senators was disgusting and damaging both the Senate’s confirmation process and the court itself. One can no longer see the court as a non-partisan arbitrator after such terrible performances.
The legacies of both recent Senate majority leaders, Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell, will both be tainted by their manipulating the Senate rules for short term gains sacrificing the party’s claim for fairness. Much needs to be changed in Congress to restore order and genuine “advice and consent.” It will take more than one election cycle and revolt against the “winner takes all” mindset. I am ashamed and fearful.
William Krupp
Raleigh
Men not ready
I believe we saw why men are just not yet ready to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge Kavanaugh was too emotional in the hearing today. He cried uncontrollably. His voice was shrill. He became hysterical, repeating his denials over and over again.
He was often incoherent and didn’t appear to understand the questions put to him. Kavanaugh was too bossy, interrupting senators and angrily turning their questions back on them. A course on anger management would be advisable. We need a calm, reasoned individual with a level head and a logical paradigm for problem-solving to serve.
Paula A. Wolf
Raleigh
Politically motivated
Like North Carolina, Maryland has no statute of limitation for felony sexual assault, meaning that the crime can be prosecuted at any time after the incident occurred. Without a complaint and investigation, a district attorney cannot prosecute.
Here it does not appear that Ms. Blasey Ford has lodged or intends to lodge a criminal complaint against Kavanaugh, suggesting that the accusation which she presented to Sen. Dianne Feinstein is politically motivated for the purpose of derailing Kavanaugh’s nomination in the court of public opinion rather than seeking justice in a court of law.
Ford has alleged that Kavanaugh committed a felony, a charge which requires for conviction proof beyond a reasonable doubt in a trial in a court, not in a Senate hearing where the only constant is political grandstanding. On the other hand, it is extremely unlikely that a district attorney would prosecute a 35-year old uncorroborated accusation of sexual misconduct where the complainant is unable to provide the date on which and the place at which the alleged incident occurred.
Barton Bloom
Clayton
Desperate man
Energized Republicans saw an admirable, deserving jurist demonstrating his fitness for the highest judicial appointment in the United States of America. Survivors of sexual assault, like myself, saw an angry, undisciplined, disrespectful, arrogant self-entitled man spit out furious denials of the allegations of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.
Highly trained litigators, like myself, saw a desperate, disingenuous, nervous man going ballistic to avoid answering simple questions. The pinnacle of this “rage or cry, don’t answer” strategy was when Sen. Feinstein asked the nominee why he opposed an FBI investigation that might swiftly clear his name and advance his appointment. Mr. Kavanaugh: “But you are questioning me! You are investigating me!”
Any lawyer knows that asking questions of a witness on the day of trial does not substitute for discovery. An investigation would mean interviewing, under oath, the now dozen or so parties with knowledge pertinent to Dr. Ford’s claims and your denials.
I grieved as a survivor at seeing that nothing has changed since Anita Hill. Nothing. As a lawyer, I grieved for the lack of any semblance of judicial process and its moral underpinning: fair play.
Mary Elizabeth Windham
Chapel Hill
Another Trump
After viewing Judge Kavanaugh’s rebuke of Dr. Ford’s testimony on Thursday, I was repulsed. We do not need a petty, vindictive demagogue with the emotional maturity of a 12-year old sitting for life on the Supreme Court. We already have one as president.
Spank McCoy
Wake Forest
Shout it out
There is a story about the preacher who wrote in the margins of his sermon text, “Weak point. Shout like hell!”
Evidently Brett Kavanaugh must have had those words written throughout his text. His was a weak and disgusting performance that revealed a person who sorely lacks the temperament to be a judge, much less to sit on the nation’s highest court.
None of the Judiciary Committee’s Republican majority has the guts and decency to risk their congressional majority to agree to pursue a FBI background investigation into the several serious allegations against the nominee. In such an inquiry the FBI would, I presume, be contacting persons directly related to the allegations — persons who would not have been in the picture when the FBI did earlier investigations of Kavanaugh.
Dr. Ford emerged as a courageous American hero. Kavanaugh emerged as a jerk, whose likely presence on the Supreme Court will compromise the court’s integrity for years to come.
Jackson Carroll
Durham
No remorse
I saw Sen. Thom Tillis as I sat glued to the Kavanaugh hearing on television. We watched it in the office, a group of young women, unable to turn away. This group understood how painful and difficult it must have been for Dr. Ford to come forward and recount for the entire country her traumatic high school experience.
We know because we are women, and we are able to fully comprehend how terrifying it must have been for her. And then there was Mr. Kavanaugh’s rebuttal. It was just as angry and entitled as I might have expected. Regardless of whether Sen. Tillis believes Dr. Ford, as I do, the anger and partisan rhetoric which Kavanaugh espoused was very frightening.
He showed no remorse, no empathy, and no ability to control his rage. If. Sen. Tillis votes to approve this nomination, he will not only have lost my vote, but my respect, and my confidence in his ability to do his job with clarity of thought and decent human morality. The good people of North Carolina are watching, and we are counting on him to do the right thing.
Kate Reece
Winston-Salem
I’m cynical
Please excuse my cynicism. The Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell recently said about the Kavanaugh nomination that it’s a shame we can’t have bipartisanship for the Supreme Court. Is this the same Mitch McConnell who refused to even process the Merrick Garland nomination?
Dan DiPerna
Raleigh
This story was originally published September 28, 2018 at 3:14 PM.