Kavanaugh Derangement Syndrome Has Already Set In

Supreme Court confirmation battles of late bring out the worst in whichever political party is playing defense. The process becomes more debased with each succeeding nomination. Continuing this sad trend, early signs indicate that the Kavanaugh nomination could be the ugliest yet. Kavanaugh is obviously well qualified by intellect, experience, and judicial temperament. While a solid conservative, he is clearly within the legal mainstream and his positions frequently have been adopted by the Supreme Court. It also appears, at least as of now, that he presents no ethical concerns. The only character flaw identified thus far is the scandalous fact, breathlessly reported by the Washington Post’s investigative staff, that he once “piled up credit card debt” to buy baseball tickets for himself and his friends and to finance home improvements. (Apparently the debt was paid off.)

Nevertheless, almost all Democrats are poised to vote against Kavanaugh even before the confirmation process gets into full swing. They are led by Chuck Schumer, who vows to “oppose him with everything I’ve got.” The Post reports that Schumer joined all of the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee outside the Supreme Court on the day following the nomination “to deliver a direct appeal to Americans to rise up in opposition to Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination.” Schumer and most Democrats are refusing even to meet with Kavanaugh until a deal is reached on their demand for a massive trove of documents Kavanaugh processed during his White House service, many of which seem irrelevant to his confirmation.

Hyperbolic rhetoric and distortions of Kavanaugh’s record are flooding the media. (See, for example, here and here.) The most extreme instance of this (so far) is a petition  opposing Kavanaugh that describes him as “an intellectually and morally bankrupt ideologue” and—wait for it–a threat to human life. The petition concludes with an ominous warning that “people will die if he is confirmed.” This petition was not produced by the Onion, late night TV comics, or grandstanding Hollywood lefties. Rather, it comes from alumni and faculty of Yale Law School and other branches of that university who are, presumably, otherwise rational. Republican Senator Ben Sasse aptly observed on the day after the nomination: “We’re less than 24 hours into this, and folks are already declaring that if you can’t see that Brett Kavanaugh is a cross between Lex Luthor and Darth Vader, then you apparently aren’t paying enough attention.”

With the ink barely dry on the nomination papers, we’ve already descended into “Kavanaugh Derangement Syndrome” territory. Unfortunately, it’s likely to get worse as the confirmation process moves forward.