Evidence of his lying to Congress and a concerning level of partisanship should disqualify Brett Kavanaugh.

Republicans, guided by the moderates among them, have done what we have asked: slowed down the confirmation process to allow Christine Blasey Ford to tell her story and to allow the FBI to investigate her sworn statements before Congress.

Unfortunately for a nation that has become bitterly divided over the question of whether Judge Brett Kavanaugh should be placed on the U.S. Supreme Court, neither the compelling testimony of Ford nor early reports about the FBI’s interviews have been able to conclusively answer the question at hand — did Kavanaugh sexually assault Ford when both were teenagers.

Kavanaugh vehemently denies the accusation.

Ford’s testimony didn’t seem motivated by politics.

Yet her statements are also completely uncorroborated, and remain so even after the FBI interviewed those who Ford said were at the house party where the attack occurred.

Conservative leaders are right to say it would set an uncomfortable precedent to allow allegations of that nature — those that are not just unproven but that are completely without supporting evidence — to sway their decision.

However, we are also uncomfortable with the prospect of Kavanaugh sitting on the Supreme Court. This is a reversal of course for The Denver Post editorial board, which called for Kavanaugh’s confirmation last month as a very qualified judge for the job.

We implore Sen. Cory Gardner, RColorado, to join Democrats in opposing this nomination for two reasons: first, we believe there is evidence Kavanaugh lied to Congress; second, we believe Kavanaugh displayed a concerning level of partisanship.

The infuriating thing is that Kavanaugh seems to have lied to Congress about small things that should be easy for a man — more than 30 years removed from his high school days — to tell the truth about. It would not have disqualified him from the Supreme Court if he did have lewd sexual references in his high school year book page. It would not have disqualified him if he had blacked out from drinking in high school or college or even at a party last year.

Absolute honesty is critical for a judge.

Even if we were to give Kavanaugh the benefit of the doubt and assume he was telling the truth when he said the obscure messages in his high school year book referred to flatulence and a drinking game, and that he has never had so much to drink he passed out, we still have the nagging fact that he has shown naked partisanship.

We would expect of a man — even a man falsely accused of sexual assault and asked attimes absurd questions about his high school days — to keep his cool and steer away from the type of finger pointing that we expect from, well, members of congress and the president.

Instead Kavanaugh said, as part of his opening prepared statement:

“This whole twoweek effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit, fueled with apparent pentup 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 leftwing opposition groups. This is a circus.”

We’re not sure how the American public can have confidence in the rulings of a Supreme Court nominee who would take the bench holding such animus toward a single political party.

Kavanaugh’s nomination is not in the best interests of America. Having such a divisive figure on the court would split this country’s confidence in the judicial branch asunder.

Kavanaugh is right about one thing, this whole circus has been unfortunate — for this nation, for the Supreme Court, for Ford and her family and for Kavanaugh and his family.

But he is wrong that this circus is entirely the result of a plot by Democrats to keep him off the court.

Gardner should demand a candidate who hasn’t sullied the ability for America to believe he can remain impartial. Members of The Denver Post’s editorial board are Megan Schrader, editor of the editorial pages; Lee Ann Colacioppo, editor; Justin Mock, CFO; Bill Reynolds, vice president of circulation and production; Bob Kinney, vice president of information technology; and TJ Hutchinson, systems editor.