Low road to high court

The fact that there was even any argument that the U.S. Senate should delay a vote on Judge Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court amid an allegation of sexual assault shows just how far the process of filling the highest court in the land has sunk into the muck of partisan politics.

The accusation adds a whole new level of concern over the exceptionally divisive nominee of an extraordinarily divisive president.

But this is about more than just one Supreme Court seat. If Republicans continue to barrel ahead on a confirmation vote without doing the due diligence the Constitution expects of them, they will further erode the integrity of the federal judiciary.

To its credit, the Senate Judiciary Committee has postponed a planned vote Thursday on Judge Kavanaugh in order to hear from his reluctant accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, who says he held her down and forced himself on her at a party in the early 1980s when they were in high school. The judge f latly denies the accusation.

Judge Kavanaugh’s defenders can’t just this shrug off. At the very least, they must investigate fully and hear from both the accuser and the accused under oath, and allow senators, and the American people, to decide for themselves who is credible here.

But senators also need to reflect deeply on what was already a deeply troubling nomination. It is obvious President Donald Trump picked Judge Kavanaugh for one reason above all: The jurist has voiced the opinion that a sitting president cannot be indicted, a prospect Mr. Trump surely fears in light of the ongoing Russia probe. That Judge Kavanaugh won’t publicly promise to recuse himself in such matters should itself present a disqualifying conflict.

Then there’s the withholding of years of documents that could shed light on the views he refuses to discuss, and the inconsistencies between his testimony and some of the documents that have surfaced.

Even before Ms. Ford’s accusations became public, Judge Kavanaugh was one of the most unpopular Supreme Court nominees in recent times. A Gallup poll in July gave him the highest negatives and the slimmest margin of support — 41-37 percent — of any nominee since the late 1980s.

There was time not long ago that it took bipartisan consensus to confirm a federal judge or Supreme Court justice, but the elimination of the filibuster on judicial votes — first by Democrats frustrated by Republican obstruction of lower court nominees under President Barack Obama, then by Republicans determined to ram through Mr. Trump’s Supreme Court picks — ended the tradition of supermajorities, and the need for more moderate appointees.

The real issue for the Senate was apparent even before the latest revelations cast doubt on Judge Kavanaugh’s suitability for the job: A court of extreme partisans and ideologues, no matter who appoints them, threatens to diminish public faith in the judiciary, and do long-term — perhaps irreparable — harm to the republic.