Last updated on December 1st, 2018 at 04:57 am
Nobody knows what will happen this week when Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Ford testify before the Judiciary Committee of the United States Senate.
We do know that Ford will describe in detail the sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh, and Kavanaugh will deny everything. Without other witnesses testifying there probably won’t be any surprises since both sides have already told their stories in the press.
There is some drama yet to play out, however, since votes for Kavanaugh’s confirmation must take place in the committee and also on the floor of the entire Senate. Since there are 51 Republican senators just two of them must vote against Kavanaugh for his confirmation to be denied. Although they have not said what they will do, it is very possible that Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine may decide it is in their own best interests to vote against Trump’s nominee.
With Kavanaugh being extremely unpopular, and with the heat coming from angry women voters, these GOP senators may decide it’s just not worth the trouble to cast a vote in favor of his nomination to the high court.
Even if he is confirmed and takes a seat on the Supreme Court, the Kavanaugh saga is just beginning, according to an article in Bloomberg. In short, Democrats may decide to wage war on Kavanaugh AFTER he goes on the Supreme Court, which has never happened before.
We are now in the #MeToo era, and with the sexism and misogyny of serial sex offender Donald Trump, women are fed up with politics as usual. There is no longer a free pass for sex offenses, as many powerful men have discovered over the past few years.
On top of that, many people feel that Trump’s presidency is not legitimate, and he should not be allowed to make a lifetime appointment to a position that will determine the civil rights of Americans for decades to come.
According to Bloomberg:
“Trump’s multifaceted attacks on rule of law and his sprawling corruption, ignored, excused or fully embraced by the Republican Congress, have clarified the stakes for Democrats. It’s no longer just about who gets to run things until the other guys take over… It will be in Democrats’ political interest to delegitimize a partisan Republican court waging war against a Congress and state governments under Democratic control.”
If Democrats take control of the House of Representatives Kavanaugh, like Trump, will become vulnerable. There is much that the House can do in terms of hearings and investigations that could look into all of the charges against Kavanaugh in great detail.
In addition, the Kavanaugh charges have put control of the Senate in play, and Democrats have vowed to investigate Kavanaugh if they control the Senate, starting in January of next year.
There is no precedent for this happening, but according to the Washington Post, Supreme Court justices can be impeached from office. And of course before that happens they would be investigated by Congress for that purpose, to determine if an impeachment trial is warranted.
The Bloomberg article goes on to say:
“Democrats can revisit evidence of his misleading testimony. They can pursue documentary corroboration, among the vast trove to which Republicans denied the Democrats and the public access, to buttress potential claims of perjury. And if Ford is bullied out of her moment now, they can give the alleged victim a belated but still-powerful platform, designed to her specifications.”
We must remember that sexual assault allegations are not the only problem with Kavanaugh’s nomination. He has been charged with lying to Congress under oath, by several Democratic U.S. Senators. He also has a documented gambling problem, and there are unresolved questions about a $200,000 debt of his that mysteriously disappeared.
Plus, the police in Maryland have said they will open a criminal investigation into Ford’s alleged sex crimes if they are requested to do so. This would mean a member of the Supreme Court would be facing an impeachment inquiry in Congress and a criminal inquiry in Montgomery County, Maryland.
Once a Democratically-controlled House picks up the rock of Kavanaugh’s life history, there is no telling what slimy creatures will crawl out and be exposed to the light of day.
If and when this happens, there is a good chance that Judge Kavanaugh’s position could be at risk.
Clearly the Kavanaugh saga is only beginning no matter what happens in the coming days.
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