Kavanaugh insists he would be an independent, impartial justice in Wall Street Journal op-ed

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last updated 5 October 2018

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."

More than 2,400 law professors, retired Justice John Paul Stevens, and other jurists have cited Kavanaugh's testimony in withdrawing their support for his nomination. "The Brett Kavanaugh who showed up to Thursday's hearing is a man I have never met, whom I have never even caught a glimpse of in 20 years of knowing the person who showed up to the first hearing," Lawfare editor-in-chief Benjamin Wittes writes in The Atlantic. His partisan testimony "blew across lines that I believe a justice still needs to hold," and "it was not just an angry and aggressive version of the person I have known. It seemed like a different person altogether." You can read Kavanaugh's assertion that it won't happen again at The Wall Street Journal.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.