Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is asking for a mulligan. In an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal published online Thursday night and in print on Friday, when he faces a pivotal vote in the Senate, Kavanaugh steps back to the day he was nominated, when he "explained" that "a good judge must be an umpire — a neutral and impartial arbiter who favors no political party, litigant, or policy." That's the kind of justice he would be, Kavanaugh insisted, not the "very emotional" man whose "tone was sharp" and who "said a few things I should not have said" as he "forcefully and passionately denied the allegation against me" in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.
Kavanaugh says that he was so "forceful and passionate" because he'd been "subjected to wrongful and sometimes vicious allegations" and was distressed "at the unfairness of how this allegation has been handled." He does not mention Christine Blasey Ford, who testified the same day that he had tried to rape her in high school, and he doesn't address the false things he said under oath. But he does insist he won't act that way again. "Going forward, you can count on me to be the same kind of judge and person I have been for my entire 28-year legal career: hardworking, even-keeled, open-minded, independent, and dedicated to the Constitution and the public good," he writes. "I have not changed."
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