Nearly one year after Justice Brett Kavanaugh was accused of sexual misconduct during an eleventh-hour attempt to derail his nomination, a New York Times “bombshell” article was just published alleging more sexual misconduct. The piece, based on an upcoming book on the subject, was updated a day later with a rather important note that undercut the previous day’s claim: The woman in question has no recollection of the alleged assault.
Still, the intended damage had been done. Several Democratic presidential candidates such as Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren (but notably, not Joe Biden) called for Kavanaugh’s impeachment. Meanwhile, the usual suspects on the Left bloviated about how a sexual deviant is supposedly seated on the highest court in the land.
What was meant to unite Democrats has also ignited renewed conservative support for Kavanaugh. And for the most part, conservatives of all stripes, both strident Trump supporters and Never Trump devotees, are decrying the leftist smear tactics on display in the renewed attack on Kavanaugh.
While it is true that some conservatives voted for President Trump because of the opportunity to place at least one justice on the Supreme Court, many who were just as concerned about the makeup of the bench chose not to support him on Election Day.
Never Trumpers may take issue with much of what the president says and does, but this does not mean they approve of smear campaigns built on nothing but baseless accusations. If the defense of Kavanaugh were simply about tribalism, those who routinely condemn the Trump administration would not extend support to a man nominated by the president.
Intraparty politics must be, and largely have been, set aside.
Take, for example, National Review writer David French, who is well-known for his criticism of the president. But his dislike of Trump does not bleed into his defense of Kavanaugh, whose accusers French says lack credibility:
The Democrats cannot and will not remove Kavanaugh. When the Senate voted for his confirmation, it not only endorsed his considerable qualifications, it rejected accusations of misconduct that were never supported by meaningful evidence. To call him ‘credibly accused’ is to continue to smear a man. He was never ‘credibly accused’ by any meaningful standard, and he is not ‘credibly accused’ today.
Democrats may look at French and others who routinely lambaste President Trump and question their passionate defense of Kavanaugh. But the real question is, why wouldn’t they defend him?
If the tables were turned and a Democrat appointed a left-leaning judge who was then subjected to a smear campaign, defending that individual against unsubstantiated claims would be a task not confined to one political party. Unfounded claims of sexual impropriety should never be used in an effort to eradicate the political opposition. The Democrats’ embrace of such tactics will surely have political consequences and may even push some reluctant voters to vote for Trump in 2020.
But not all who offer a defense of the justice do so because of their allegiance to President Trump. Thankfully, many who regularly criticize our commander in chief are capable of treating any news about Kavanaugh with the individual attention it deserves. Yet don’t expect the same from his detractors on the Left, who rush to impugn the justice based on his politics alone.
Kimberly Ross (@SouthernKeeks) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner‘s Beltway Confidential blog and a columnist at Arc Digital.
