Earlier this year, Democrats, bolstered by the media, carried out one of the most reprehensible political hit jobs in modern American history. Disregarding due process, they hijacked the #MeToo movement and used it to inflict massive personal destruction on a man who had spent a lifetime building a reputation for his honesty and integrity.
For the media, no allegation was too uncorroborated, too salacious, or too vicious to enthusiastically print. And for Senator Feinstein and the rest of the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, this was an opportunity to send an unmistakable, chilling message to any originalist judge thinking about entering public service: We will come after you personally, and the facts and the evidence don’t matter.
For Republicans to simply move on is the wrong answer and would be a mistake. The Democrats and the media have shown no remorse and this reckless behavior will continue on without consequence.
In fact, they’ve doubled down. Some on the radical left are now treating the Kavanaugh saga as a roadmap for future confirmation processes. In their view, sexual assault allegations represent an opportunity to wrench authority away from the so-called powerful. The evidence doesn’t matter. What does matter is who is making the allegation. If the accuser is a member of a favored group, the accusation must be believed. And if the accused holds the wrong political views, he must be vilified and destroyed. Guilty until proven innocent is the new name of the game.
Recall Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono saying that she put Justice Kavanaugh’s denials “in the context of everything that I know about him in terms of how he approaches his cases.” For Senator Hirono and other Senate Democrats, it’s about using any means necessary, all the way down to personal and social destruction, to achieve power.
This strategy is not only dangerous to the men who are falsely accused but it also cheapens the truthful and tragic stories of many #MeToo survivors. Such a strategy cannot be reconciled with the basic principles of fairness and justice.
What should Republicans do next? Those who are responsible need to be brought to justice, not simply to vindicate Brett Kavanaugh, but also so that good and honorable people will not be discouraged from entering public service in the future.
To that end, the Democrats’ decision to weaponize sexual assault allegations for partisan gain is a major political scandal that deserves to be thoroughly investigated. Republicans should immediately take the following steps:
- The Senate Judiciary Committee should investigate Senator Feinstein’s staffers in order to conduct a complete inquiry into the handling of the sexual assault allegations. Among other things, the staffers should be asked under oath whether they leaked Dr. Ford’s allegations or whether they know who did. The committee should also investigate Dr. Ford’s lawyers including Debra Katz, Lisa Banks, and Michael Bromwich. The Senate should ask for all communications between Dr. Ford’s lawyers and any Democratic Senator or staffer. These records and testimony will help shed light on why the Democrats concealed Dr. Ford’s letter for two months and then unleashed it at the last moment in an effort to derail Kavanaugh’s nomination.
- The Senate should continue to confirm more principled judges who, like Kavanaugh, will interpret and uphold the Constitution as written. Unlike many of the judges appointed by the Obama Administration, judges like Kavanaugh will not legislate from the bench and will make decisions based on law rather than political or personal opinions.
- Lastly, conservatives should vote in November to ensure that the Republicans maintain control of Congress. By weaponizing uncorroborated sexual assault allegations, the Democrats have shown that they cannot be trusted and do not deserve to be in charge.
Republicans should take these steps to defend our most cherished principles of justice and due process. People should be judged on the basis of the evidence against them, not on what group they belong to or what political views they hold. What happened to Justice Kavanaugh must never be allowed to happen again. The long-term health of our judicial system depends upon it.
