Delaware Sen. Chris Coons said that Senate Democrats will appeal to the “consciences” of GOP senators to try and persuade them not to fill the vacant Supreme Court seat. Perhaps Coons and his Democratic colleagues should first examine their consciences from the last Supreme Court fight.
If you want to know why Republicans and conservatives are resolute in filling the vacancy without a compromise, one need only look at Democratic escalations in court appointments. For some, it was the Joe Biden-led crusade against Robert Bork in 1987, which set the stage for future hyper-political confirmation battles. For others, it was the Democrat filibuster of Miguel Estrada in the early 2000s for his crime (as they put it in their emails) of being Latino. But the most recent reminder was the smearing of Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.
The Kavanaugh confirmation process started with pathetic attacks on Kavanaugh liking to drink beer and accumulating credit card debt for baseball tickets that he ended up paying back. These ridiculous attacks turned malicious when Democrats propped up the uncorroborated, evidence-free accusations of Christine Blasey Ford, and even less credible allegations from others, that Kavanaugh was a serial rapist.
It didn’t matter that Blasey Ford could not remember the day, week, or month that the alleged incident between her and Kavanaugh took place. She couldn’t even determine the year until her third retelling of the story. She still doesn’t know how she got to the party, where the party was, or how she left it. All of the people she had claimed were in attendance deny that such a party ever took place, including her “lifelong friend” Leland Keyser. There is no evidence that Kavanaugh and Blasey Ford ever crossed paths in high school.
Deborah Ramirez had an even flimsier accusation against Kavanaugh. Then there were the farcical gang-rape allegations pushed by Michael Avenatti, which require no further comment. But Senate Democrats were content to run with them, smearing Kavanaugh as a rapist with no evidence whatsoever on the long-shot chance they would win the Senate in the 2018 midterms and keep that Supreme Court seat open.
Each passing year, Democrats’ misconduct solidifies Republicans in their conviction that they must win confirmation battles. Last year, the New York Times botched yet another accusation against Kavanaugh, which the alleged victim herself does not recall, based on secondhand information. This year, Tara Reade brought forward allegations against Joe Biden that are considerably more credible than anything brought against Kavanaugh, putting the hypocrisy of those like Kamala Harris on full display.
Lindsey Graham is one of the many Republicans to have recognized the need to approach confirmation battles differently in the wake of the Kavanaugh debacle. Democrats expecting some sort of compromise or an appeal to Republican “consciences” should reevaluate their own behavior with regard to Supreme Court vacancies. They will no longer get, nor do they deserve, any sympathy from Republicans on this issue.
