The politics of destruction

What we're seeing from the Democratic Party and the progressive far-left-wing of US politics, in connection with the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to be the next Justice of the Supreme Court, is nothing less than the politics of destruction.  It's straight out of Alinsky's book "Rules for Radicals", aimed squarely at not just the discrediting, but the demolition, of a good man by any means, fair or foul.  If Judge Kavanaugh's nomination is defeated, he will be so damaged and besmirched that I don't see any way he can continue in his present position as a judge on an appeal court.  He'll be professionally destroyed - and that's precisely the point.  If they succeed in destroying him, I'm sure many of them calculate that no other good, honorable, upright person will ever dare accept nomination to SCOTUS, because they'll know that they face destruction too.

The Wall Street Journal put it well.

The last-minute accusation of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is an ugly spectacle by any measure. But if there is a silver lining, it is that the episode is providing an education for Americans on the new liberal standard of legal and political due process.

As Ms. Hill and Sen. Hirono aver, the Democratic standard for sexual-assault allegations is that they should be accepted as true merely for having been made. The accuser is assumed to be telling the truth because the accuser is a woman. The burden is on Mr. Kavanaugh to prove his innocence. If he cannot do so, then he is unfit to serve on the Court.

This turns American justice and due process upside down. The core tenet of Anglo-American law is that the burden of proof always rests with the person making the accusation. An accuser can’t doom someone’s freedom or career merely by making a charge.

The accuser has to prove the allegation in a court of law or in some other venue where the accused can challenge the facts. Otherwise we have a Jacobin system of justice in which “J’accuse” becomes the standard and anyone can be ruined on a whim or a vendetta.

. . .

We don’t doubt that Ms. Ford believes what she claims. But the set of facts she currently provides wouldn’t pass even the “preponderance of evidence”—or 50.01% evidence of guilt—test that prevails today on college campuses. If this is the extent of her evidence and it is allowed to defeat a Supreme Court nominee, a charge of sexual assault will become a killer political weapon regardless of facts. And the new American standard of due process will be the presumption of guilt.

There's more at the link.

Nobody in his or her right mind believes the accusations leveled against Judge Kavanaugh by Ms. Ford and, most recently, by another woman.  As far as I know, every witness they've put forward to support their claims has done the opposite, denying them.  They can't name the date, time, place or circumstances accurately enough to permit verification of those details.  Their supporters only say that they should be believed because of their sex, whereas Judge Kavanaugh has received endorsements (and outright statements that he would never have acted in that way) from literally scores of people who knew him at the time.  The allegations against him simply don't pass the "smell test", much less any legal standard.  No law enforcement investigation of them will be possible, because there aren't enough details to investigate.  In short, the accusations are (in my opinion, and the opinion of many) trumped-up charges, designed for no other purpose but to prevent his confirmation to SCOTUS.

If those making and supporting such charges are allowed to prevail, they will have done permanent damage to the Supreme Court, effectively reducing its status and bringing into contention its role as the third pillar of the US constitution.  The personal destruction of Judge Kavanaugh will deter many otherwise good judges from accepting nomination to SCOTUS, and in due course to any higher court, for fear of what liberal radicals might do to them, too.  (That, of course, is precisely the idea.)

The judiciary has always been (in theory at least) a check and balance on the legislative and executive elements.  If these attacks succeed, it will have been brought into check by the legislative arm, and will from now on function with one eye over its shoulder, wary of new attacks against any judge who dares to rule according to the constitution and laws of the United States, rather than the current standard of political correctness.

I hope and pray that Judge Kavanaugh is confirmed to SCOTUS as soon as possible.  That's the only effective answer to these politics of destruction.  They are nothing less than terrorism against the society and political order of the United States - and they must be stopped, by any and all legal means available.  If they are not, there are those who will resort to extra-legal means to do so . . . and that may mean the end of the Republic as we know it.  At all costs, we must prevent that.

Peter

EDITED TO ADD:  The letter that Prof. Ford wrote to raise her allegations against Judge Kavanaugh now appears to have been submitted in a very interesting manner, one that has legal implications in and of itself.  Read about it here.  If that's true, it casts yet more doubt on her accusations.