Democrats got what they said they wanted Friday, which is a shame. But perhaps we can hope they’ll take yes for an answer.
Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court is now highly unlikely to come to the Senate floor for a vote until after the FBI has conducted a one-week investigation.
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Sens. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, made it clear they will not vote for Kavanaugh without such an investigation. Flake wanted a chance to get the truth, but also didn’t want to corrupt the committee process or play along with Democrats’ strategy of unending delay. It is a shame he did so in a way that gives Democrats yet another period during which to undermine both Kavanaugh and the time-tested processes of Capitol Hill.
It goes without saying that if Kavanaugh is guilty of sexually assaulting Christine Blasey Ford and has been lying, his nomination should be pulled. If the FBI doesn’t find evidence that he is guilty, though, a vote must be taken immediately and he should be confirmed.
We know, regrettably, that at least some Democrats, and perhaps all of them, will refuse to accept any investigation result that doesn’t condemn Kavanaugh. Those senators running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020 will trip over themselves to come up with new demands and dramatic excuses for delaying confirmation of a presumptively innocent and capable man. Eager to win the financial love of the abortion industry — is there now any other kind of Democrat these days? — they will never support a textualist who, because of his adherence to the Constitution, might vote to overturn Roe v. Wade.
If the FBI cannot corroborate Ford’s charges, there can be no reason to delay a vote any more.
Ford’s pain appeared to be real. But her story is not supported by any established facts. Every person she cited as witnesses said they could not corroborate her story. Even Ford’s lifelong friend, Leyland Keyser, under pain of perjury, said through an attorney that she “does not know Mr. Kavanaugh and she has no recollection of ever being at a party or gathering where he was present, with, or without, Dr. Ford.” The other supposed attendees all deny any knowledge of such an incident or even such a gathering.
So Ford’s allegations are not just uncorroborated, but are refuted by those she said could confirm them.
This does not prove Kavanaugh is innocent; it is difficult to prove a negative, and no FBI investigation is likely to do so. But proof of innocence is an absurd and deeply corrupting standard to apply anywhere, let alone to allegations of an offense committed 36 years ago. If a week’s investigation leaves this as a he-said-she-said story, the Senate must disregard the accusation, invoke cloture, and confirm an excellent nominee, without a cloud hanging over him.
It will be a shame for Kavanaugh to miss a week of the court’s next term. But it will have happened only because of the unconscionable and dishonest delay by ranking member Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., whose name should live in infamy.
Sadly, it is likely to do so only among those, generally conservatives, who still value the sophisticated, dignified, and principled congressional procedures that underpin this great republic. Feinstein and her fellow Democrats, once again, got what they wanted, as they did when Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, gave in to their requests for delay and another hearing. If they try to delay again in a week, we hope fervently that their cries will fall on deaf ears.
