last updated: 6 September 2018 (approximate reading time: 4 minutes; 845 words)
Let’s just get it out of the way: Brett Kavanaugh is going to be the next justice on the Supreme Court.
Every email or social media post you’ve seen saying that you must support this or that in order to “stop the confirmation” is just trying to gin you up. There’s no way to stop it. The Republicans control the Senate, they don’t need a single Democratic vote, so there’s no way he can lose (unless there is some really shocking revelation that throws his conservative credentials into question, but that is extremely difficult to imagine). These are emails designed to make you care about the issue, and/or donate money to progressive causes. But it’s not going to change the outcome.
No. I’m not happy with his nomination at all. He is a hardcore conservative with troubling views. He’s considered only slightly less conservative than Clarence Thomas, which pretty much means that he will be a consistent vote against civil rights, national health policy, worker’s rights, gun regulation, and campaign finance reform. He also previously argued that a sitting president is above the law, which doubtlessly sits very well with Trump.
But here’s the thing: the fact that I don’t like it, doesn’t mean that there’s anything that can be done about it at this point. Elections have consequences. And the consequence of the GOP winning control of the Senate and the Presidency is that the President can nominate a Supreme Court justice, and the Senate can confirm him.
These aren’t truly “hearings” in the sense that the Senate Judicial Committee is “hearing out” reasons as to why he should, or why he shouldn’t, be recommended to the full Senate for confirmation. It is a done deal that the Republican majority will recommend him. And it’s a given that the Democrats will object vociferously.
In other words, we’re witnessing theater. It’s theater in which the Senators pretend that they’re doing their due diligence, when what they’re really all doing is appealing to their respective political bases. Republicans are traditionally more motivated by Supreme Court justices as a major issue, and the Republican Senators are showing their base that they are getting “their guys” on the bench. Democrats are traditionally less engaged with Supreme Court issues, so the Democratic Senators are trying to fire up their base by using this Kabuki theater to illustrate how damaging it is that the GOP and Trump is getting to put these people into these long-term positions.
In general, when the process is allowed to play out, it’s fine. It brings issues to the public, and let’s us observe, if not participate. But then there’s the protesters. I support everyone’s right to peacefully protest, whether they be protesting for or against causes and ideologies that have my sympathy. Protesting can be therapeutic for the protester, and draw attention to causes that might otherwise get ignored. Unfortunately, protesters constantly interrupting the hearings doesn’t have the effect the protesters desire. It actually keeps the Democratic Senators from having the time to make their cases. It turns off moderates of both parties who believe in the process. And while the process may simply be theater, the protests don’t disrupt the show in the way that the protesters want, by shutting it down or bringing sympathy to their cause. They just justify the more severe positions of the right wing, at the same time they drown out the lawmakers who are sympathetic to them.
If you’re like me, and you are not in favor of Kavanaugh, know there’s nothing we can do about it, but also see the harm in trying to disrupt the proceedings, there are things that we can do, but they’re long term:
Just because we can’t do anything about Kavanaugh doesn’t mean we can’t use our political and economic capital to affect positive change. Focus on what we can do, not what we can’t.
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