In Our Court

Ignoring the news most of the time is how I imagine I'd feel taking time off from working at a pre-20th century insane asylum.

Nevertheless...

1. Just to point out that it was reported that on Monday the anti-president proposed firing Rosenstein from Justice in order to deflect attention from the Kavanaugh news.

So now the Kavanaugh hearing is Thursday--and so is the anti-president's meeting with Rosenstein.

2.  At this point, what Kavanaugh did or didn't do in high school and college may be somewhat uncertain, but his present day response to the accusations is in itself so troubling as to be disqualifying.  There are many ways to respond, but a blanket denial, along with a decidedly weird claim of temperance and sexual innocence beyond college years, is so--well, first of all nuts, especially given the evidence of his male friends--but also so arrogant and clueless that it suggests psychosis.  Given other evidence, he may even be a pathological liar--just like the guy who picked him.

3.  There are so many reasons to reject K. for Supreme Court Justice that any sensible Senator can simply take their pick.  But one especially strikes at the integrity of the Court, raised on Tuesday by Chuck Todd: the expectation of judicial impartiality, called into question by Kavanaugh's partisan political activity, but shattered completely in recent weeks, by his daily residence at the White House and his Fox interview:

"But how impartial can a Supreme Court nominee be when he goes on Fox News — of all possible platforms — to defend himself?

Indeed, you can argue that the entire process of this nomination — the protests, the accusations, the defenses and now the Fox News interview — makes it almost impossible for Kavanaugh to be viewed as an impartial player. And it’s doubly tough for someone who, despite serving on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, worked on the Ken Starr investigation in the 1990s and in the George W. Bush White House in the early 2000s.

It’s that perception as a partisan warrior that has always made Kavanaugh’s nomination problematic — even before these allegations against him. And it’s a perception that gets reinforced when you go on Fox News."

The integrity of the presidency has been shattered.  The concept of impartiality may not even be real to this Congress, and certainly isn't to the new R party.  But if K. is elevated to the Court, it's officially chaos in America for a long time to come.