Sen. Hatch: Don’t ‘Bork’ Kavanaugh
Utah senator says Supreme Court nominee is no cartoon villain
To Bork, or not to Bork?
For Senate Democrats, that is the question.
For those unfamiliar with borking, the term — officially recognized by the Oxford English Dictionary in 2002 — refers to the unprecedented campaign of character assassination waged against Judge Robert Bork during his 1987 Supreme Court confirmation hearing. Judge Bork was among the most qualified judicial nominees ever to come before the Senate.
His confirmation should have been a cakewalk. But it quickly became a political gauntlet from which his reputation would never recover.
Rather than evaluate Judge Bork on the merits of his judicial record, Democrats subjected him to a public inquisition, misrepresenting his positions and demonizing his character at every turn. Their ultimate goal was to portray Judge Bork as a political extremist hellbent on returning America to a racist, reactionary past.
So vicious was the left’s treatment of the judge that a description of this behavior found its way into the everyday parlance: to Bork. To Bork public officials is to vilify them for political gain. It is to strip them of their humanity and tear their public image to shreds. It is exactly what Democrats are attempting to do to Judge Brett Kavanaugh.
Like Judge Bork, Judge Kavanaugh is among the most qualified individuals ever nominated. With a sterling academic résumé, a demonstrated commitment to the Constitution and more than 12 years on the federal bench, he is everything Americans could hope for in a Supreme Court justice. Democrats know they can’t derail Kavanaugh on the merits. Instead, they attack a straw man — a caricature of the real Judge Kavanaugh, a fictitious being born of rank hyperbole and liberal lies.
In their zeal to portray Judge Kavanaugh as the embodiment of our greatest fears, Democrats have gone borking mad. As if announcing a professional wrestling match, Sen. Richard Blumenthal described Judge Kavanaugh as nothing less than “your worst night- mare.” Sen. Kamala Harris went a step further when she warned that Kavanaugh’s confirmation would result in the “destruction of the Constitution of the United States.” But Sen. Jeff Merkley one-upped them all when he stated that Judge Kavanaugh “wants to pave the path to tyranny.”
In a moment of indiscretion, it seems that President Donald Trump has nominated Genghis Khan.
In recent days, liberal rhetoric has taken an apocalyptic turn. Take, for example, the letter signed by hundreds of Yale Law School alumni, students and faculty prophesying that “people will die if (Kavanaugh) is confirmed.”
Or consider Sen. Cory Booker’s declaration that anyone supporting Kavanaugh’s nomination is “complicit (in) evil” — or his biblical allusion likening this moment to “walking through the valley of the shadow of death.”
Given the rhetoric, you’d be forgiven if you thought the left was talking about the Grim Reaper and not Judge Kavanaugh. While both might wear black robes, only one is a minivan-driving carpool dad. Only one is a baseball-loving law professor adored by students of all political stripes. Only one is a former altar boy turned girls basketball coach who feeds the homeless in his free time. And that’s Judge Kavanaugh.
Try as they might to depict my friend as the harbinger of death, Democrats are repeatedly frustrated by the same simple fact: Judge Kavanaugh is an incredibly decent human being.
In an attempt to make a monster of a mensch, Democrats have dumped millions of dollars on political ads maligning Judge Kavanaugh’s character. But the truth, like Teflon, keeps these attacks from sticking.
Of course, reality won’t deter Democrats from further attempts to Bork Judge Kavanaugh. Mother Theresa could be our nominee, and the left would still find something to complain about. Even so, I trust the American people to see through the ruse. Judge Kavanaugh is both a gentleman and a jurist of the highest quality. He is an eminently qualified nominee who deserves swift confirmation to the Supreme Court.