“I should not make a commitment about how I would handle a particular case, and the decision to participate in a case is itself a decision in a particular case,” Kavanaugh said.
Well, announcing “I should not make a commitment about how I would handle a particular case” is also a “decision in a particular case.”
Achieving the highest levels of evasive legalese gobbledygook, Mr. Kavanaugh…
Well played…
Here’s how Blumenthal should have asked the question (but I bet he didn’t)
Judge, you’ve been working under the Canons of Judicial Ethics since you joined the bench. Do you agree with me that those principles are important to the functioning of the court and it’s place in society?
The Supreme Court is not bound formally by those canons. Have you thought at all about whether the court should adopt the existing canons or ones like them?
Do you agree with me that even without formal canons of ethics, it is imperative for the court to act under at least the general principles expressed in the Canons of Judicial Ethics?
Judge, you were appointed by a president who is under investigation by a special prosecutor. Do you agree with me that it would at least give a substantial appearance of impropriety if you were to rule on a case arising out of the special prosecutor’s office?
Would you recuse yourself should such a case come before the court?
And if Kavenaough still says he won’t comment, then, Judge, you just have said no.
That wasn’t the question. BEEP!
Next nominee.
lol
This is how you’d ask the questions if you were actually determined to find out what he knows.
Since I was a child, I have been flabbergasted at how thoroughly the Senate neuters itself during SCOTUS hearings.
All it would take is one candidate being summarily rejected for refusing to answer a question on some absurd grounds. If that happened even once, and the Senate made it clear that every clown of a similar stripe will be bounced at the fucking door, and you’d suddenly have a hard time shutting these fools up.
Once again, a system that’s supposed to produce integrity is instead rendered worthless by communal fear of “losing” a high-stakes action.
I agree almost completely. Completely except for your last line. My suspicion is that senators are neutered by the format that limits questioning to a few minutes at a time, by the paucity of real trial lawyers in the Senate, and by senators’ overwhelming egos, which lead them to display themselves rather than stick to effective examination.