“Prejudice” derives from Latin, meaning exactly as it suggests: “judging in advance.” In our country, it should be a basic creed that no public official, from cop to top, should be prejudiced against specific (non-criminal) groups of our citizens. Especially, judges at any level should not be prejudiced. That’s the meaning of the blindfold on Lady Justice.
Lately we’ve seen a repeated mosiac about the Kavanaugh hearings, identical down to each pebble from the president, major Republicans in Congress, Fox News, letters to the editor, and surprisingly from the nominee himself. Kavanaugh’s own considered, written opening statement:
“Since my nomination in July, there’s been a frenzy on the left to come up with something, anything to block my confirmation. … This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit, fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election, fear that has been unfairly stoked about my judicial record, revenge on behalf of the Clintons and millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups. … You have tried hard. You’ve given it your all. No one can question your efforts.”
People can differ on who was more persuasive, and whether Kavanaugh was honest. For a view starkedly different from that of past Chair of the Kauai Republican Party Alfred Sarmento (Other Voices 10/4/18), see bit.ly/2xO9hTL, which was written before the discovery of a contemporaneous letter from Kavanaugh, which he signed “Bart,” which makes mendacious, at best, his answers — never mentioning his high school nickname — about whether he felt the drunken lout “Bart O’Kavanaugh” in his friend Mark Judge’s book was based on him. Actually, I watched the hearing less interested in Kavanaugh’s teenage conduct than in his current demeanor.
I could overlook, although remember, Kavanaugh’s history of extreme Republican partisanship, such that his nomination to the D.C. Court of Appeals was stymied for three years. I withheld any opinion, since the relevant papers were withheld by the White House, as to whether he lied about his part in Bush’s torture memos.
Since the Constitution gives the president the right to nominate justices, I could tolerate that he apparently never actually tried a case as a lawyer or judge. I disliked, but could accept, that in the 1990s he practically invented the “Lock Her Up” stance toward Hillary, set the “perjury trap” for Bill, and unsuccessfully exhorted the other lawyers on the Starr investigation to conclude that Foster’s suicide was a conspiracy murder.
I could question, but not find disqualifying, that once the president became a Republican, Kavanaugh’s view of presidential immunity shifted 180 degrees, a crucial point in endearing him to Trump.
I knew that his most famous legal writing was the prurient portions of the Starr Report. This all I could live with for a Republican nominee, if he respected the Supreme Court as an entity, and showed he now had judicial temperament.
It is sad, but within his privilege, for a president to abuse the bully pulpit, using it to be a bully, amass a 21st century record of provably inaccurate statements, and to preach solely to his base. Such conduct is, sadly, now (and historically) endemic for politicians.
But, in layman’s terms, it’s a “no-no” for a judge to spout biased invective. Perhaps an extemporaneous puking, if goaded, would result in only a reprimand in most states.
However, a written and thus fully planned, weighed and reviewed statement, intended for universal distribution, which overtly questions the honesty, motives and patriotism of perhaps a majority of our citizens would and should normally result in a judge’s removal from office.
I can’t imagine any lawyer wanting to try or argue a case before a judge who is on record saying that his client’s political views establish that she is dishonest, conspiratorial, and motivated solely by regret over past Republican successes.
Kavanaugh is entitled to his views.
The United States is entitled to a judge sufficiently unbiased and impartial — unprejudiced — never to have uttered the partisan, deplorable statements repeated above.
•••
Jed Somit is a resident of Kapaa.
and the left continues to lose and cry all the way to irrelevancy
Oh Jed. The wise little Socialist who wants his liberal dogma to continue destroying our Country. Ahh…the good ole Obama and Hillary years. It was so exciting to watch our Country go broke and inundate ourselves with illegal aliens coming to America to spread their brain washed Socialism! Keep it up Jed, but be careful! You may get exactly what you want, and then you’ll be forced to get a job and work for a living! Your Government will see to that as it directs every aspect of your “professed” miserable life.!
This is what happens when your government is monopolized by only two parties for such a long period of time, voters have no confidence of either party. So the party who controls Congress and the Senate controls who sits on the Supreme Court, does not matter what credentials he/she might have, its all about POWER!
Does anyone really believe that Democrats aren’t driven by George Soros and the socialists and Communists? The Communists are open in LA. They wear t-shirts with “Communist Party, USA” on them.
It’s NO SECRET.
Many minorities in this country have escaped Communist dictatorships.
The Democrats forget about all the South Vietnamese, the South Koreans, the Venezuelans (including some of my family who were intellectuals there), the Cubans ……….not to mention those whose lives were impacted by the Berlin Wall (that includes our military men).
Tell the young people the TRUTH. People who try to leave a Communist country can be shot in the back.
Rules are strict!
Wha…? Did you just step out of a John Birch Society time capsule from the 60’s?
Judging in Advance? What happened to Innocent until proved Guilty?
I love boofing!!!
I find this article full of false accusations about Justice Kavanaugh and our President Trump. I believe it is possible to become so biased when you watch or read only one or two sorces to base your opinion on. Do your own research and vote for the truth you find, don’t vote basied on political party because someone else said he or she was bad or good. Find your voice and do your research because there are alot of opinions on the news channels and few unbaiased even reporting going on. Try open minds and hearts and you will find peace in the facts.
I certainly did not mean to be inaccurate, although I’ll admit to opinionated. Please detail which factual statements I made about Kavanaugh (or Trump, but I think the only factual statement I made was about his own inaccuracies) you believe are inaccurate, and I’ll double-check. I do not limit myself to one or a few sources.
Thank you Samantha. This is good fundamental principles to live by or to count on. I think in situations as this, the important thing to remember is do you know anyone that might be affected by you siding in with a judge. If so, this person may not necessarily comply to your understandings. I think this is what they meant. Does this kind of issues stir up strife or differences of opinions in others you may know? Sure. What should be the best solution to then rectify any misunderstandings between you and that person? “Hugs and kisses” will do fine. Or may be not.
Apparently the majority still rules in the usa…. don’t like it, a letter to tgi is not the solution!
And Ginesberg does? LOL
Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh belongs on the United States Supreme Court fully supported by the ABA and a Constitutional Originalist with a long and exceptional judicial record.
You’ll notice that none of these petty white trash trump supporters want to discuss any of the merits in Jed Somit’s fine and articulate argument. It is, after all, a difficult thing to dismiss no trial lawyer experience or the clearly partisan rant even Kavanaugh regrets making. No, the new normal is “We won, so it was all proper!” Senator McConnell actually said the other day that a Supreme Court vacancy could be filled during the next election year unlike the one he blocked during the last election year. Integrity has left the building! Then there’s Oswald, everyone’s favorite aging, white, male supremacist, goosestepping his way along, calling all opposition “socialists,” just like every good fascist did back in 1934. Funny, I completely missed the part of Jed’s letter where he discusses preferred economic systems.
I am just thankful that Justice Clarence Thomas will finally have someone else on the bench with him that he can talk to, you know, REALLY relate to! I am also thankful that the GOP continues to strive to protect all of us men from the prospect of being harassed by all these annoying women who pretend that they don’t LOVE being manhandled and then ridiculed for actually speaking up about it.
Not sure. But I’m not really for the old Hawaiian kingdom. It doesn’t matter to me what was said or done.
This Debacle was about Abortion,killing the Unborn Babies!
Nice one Jed. Your huge loss in 2016 was just that: a big fat Loss, strike 3, over the falls – get over it and start living Aloha brah. You moved here to escape da drama not continue to perpetuate it, right??
First why accuse someone of an act that you cannot prove or substantiate? Just to let others know what happened to you or to muddle the waters and cause doubt about a good candidate. I saw a man full of raw emotion telling us he had been wrongly accused. Before that I saw a woman who looked like she was reading a novel. When questioned later could not remember any of the details. So did it really happen or did she make it up in her mind (no details and none of her witnesses, even one a close friend to substantiate it). In any case why make it a national accusation unless you want to ruin a person’s life? And what is her and her husband’s connection to the medical field, specifically abortion medication that could be at risk of being defunded if he was confirmed. This was all a sham and why can’t people see through it! Blind by choice!
Now with a pair that comes from a murky pass of sexual adventures between Clarence Thomas and Kavanaugh, maybe the simmering issue of legalizing prostitution will finally be settled at the highest court.
Its about time all those “hard” working females and equally (mostly unsatisfied married men) can do their mutually consensual activities in open public like in Germany and other civilized European countries. Then there won’t be much of a problem of married men hitting up Congressional interns for a fix.