The ends justify the means

The ends justify the means. I first heard this expression in high school to describe an authoritarian regime in Europe decades prior. Believing in my country, I never expected that this term someday would describe our Senate’s review of Supreme Court nominations. In 2016, Republicans refused to consider former President Barack Obama’s nominee, Judge Merrick Garland. Republicans would never want to be treated in the way that they treated Democrats, but they did not care, because the chance that a Republican might win the presidential election provided sufficient reason to ignore the nomination.

Our system of government requires good faith on all sides, but here, the ends justified the means. When accusations of sexual assault emerged against Judge Brett Kavanaugh, surely the natural reaction of anyone who believes in America’s justice system would have been to investigate. Instead, Republicans did the opposite. They refused an investigation and rushed to schedule a vote as soon as Kavanaugh completed his aggressive, partisan defense. Installing a reliable conservative on the Supreme Court is so important that the ends justified the means. Thank you, Sen. Jeff Flake, for standing up for the fundamental principles of justice and process that have underpinned this nation for centuries.

Douglas Carlson, San Francisco