Judge Brett Kavanaugh, whose supreme court nomination has been thrown into question over recent weeks due to a series of uncorroborated allegations of sexual assault, has penned an impassioned op-ed ahead of the crucial confirmation vote expected on Saturday.
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Kavanaugh, who last week answered a series of questions about the alleged assault before the Senate Judiciary Committee, insisted that he would be an impartial and level-headed justice should he be given the privilege of a seat on the highest court in the land.
“Over the past 12 years, I have ruled sometimes for the prosecution and sometimes for criminal defendants, sometimes for workers and sometimes for businesses, sometimes for environmentalists and sometimes for coal miners,” Kavanaugh wrote at the Wall Street Journal. “In each case, I have followed the law. I do not decide cases based on personal or policy preferences. I am not a pro-plaintiff or pro-defendant judge. I am not a pro-prosecution or pro-defense judge. I am a pro-law judge.”
As for the allegations themselves, Kavanaugh did not seek to issue one final denial. But he did clarify his impassioned and, at times, emotional statements given during the emergency hearing. “I was subjected to wrongful and sometimes vicious allegations. My time in high school and college, more than 30 years ago, has been ridiculously distorted. My wife and daughters have faced vile and violent threats,” he wrote.
“I was very emotional last Thursday, more so than I have ever been. I might have been too emotional at times. I know that my tone was sharp, and I said a few things I should not have said. I hope everyone can understand that I was there as a son, husband and dad. I testified with five people foremost in my mind: my mom, my dad, my wife, and most of all my daughters.”
But some of those sitting on the committee have taken issue with Kavanaugh’s protestations, arguing that his temperament is not suitable for such high legal office.
Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, one of the senators who is due to vote this weekend, said she would be casting a “No.”
“In addition to the concerns about his past conduct,” she said in a statement, “last Thursday’s hearing called into question Judge Kavanaugh’s current temperament, honesty, and impartiality.”
As the embattled judge awaits his fate, he assured the public that if he was to be confirmed, he would commit himself to be “hardworking, even-keeled, open-minded, independent and dedicated to the Constitution and the public good.”
At a news conference Thursday, committee chairman Chuck Grassley said that the Kavanaugh vote was “just about 48 hours away,” according to the BBC. That came after the crucial group of senators had read through a newly commissioned FBI report into the allegations against Judge Kavanaugh. Grassley said that the investigation, which was the seventh federal inquest into Kavanaugh’s background, “found no hint of misconduct.”
(H/T: Wall Street Journal)