Given the multitude of attorneys in our country, including me, we can certainly find at least one to nominate for the Supreme Court who, under oath, (1) has not repeatedly lied to Congress about specific facts (in a high school yearbook or otherwise), (2) has not misled Congress about past conduct (drinking habits or otherwise), and (3) has not evidenced partisanship that calls into question his ability to judge cases without bias. Any of these three displays should have disqualified Judge Brett Kavanaugh in favor of nominating another person to the court.
This conclusion in no way minimizes the seriousness of the allegations of sexual misconduct against him. Indeed, what kind of message are we sending young men and women if we attempt to dismiss those allegations because they pertain to youthful indiscretions, as if they have no consequences for the victim or the perpetrator?
The easy answer staring us in the face, without need to assess the accuracy of those allegations, is that Kavanaugh’s nomination should have been rejected because of the three displays of disqualifying behavior before Congress.
Karl R. Johnson, Salt Lake City