Pirate's Cove

One of the talking points post-hearings about Brett Kavanaugh was that if he was confirmed to the Supreme Court there would be a pall hanging over his head and every single one of his decisions. Now, we’re getting that the court itself will be diminished. Why? Because these people are unhinged, and their hatred of Donald Trump blinds them, puts them off the rails, and has them taking out their irrational, seething hatred on a good man like Brett Kavanaugh. We’ll start with Virginia Heffernan at the LA Times

If Kavanaugh is confirmed, the Supreme Court will lose its magic power: prestige

The Supreme Court must serve without benefit of what Alexander Hamilton called “the sword or the purse.” Its nine justices don’t carry guns; they don’t command an army to enforce their rulings. They also lack any kind of slush fund to buy influence or pay off pests like porn stars.

Instead of might or money, the court’s authority is grounded in an elusive but indispensable quality: prestige. Without prestige, the Supreme Court is a fancy-dress show whose rulings won’t even bind the lower courts.

If Judge Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed to the Supreme Court after his hurdy-gurdy self-pity jamboree before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, the prestige of the court will take a hard hit. It won’t command the respect it requires in a nation that claims to have, in the words of John Adams, “a government of laws and not of men.”

As you see from the first paragraph, this is all about Trump. She attempts to make her case, but, she’s just slinging moonbat word salad. Then there’s Molly Ball and Tessa Berenson at Time

Brett Kavanaugh’s Confirmation Fight Exposes Major Problems With the Nation’s Most Powerful Court

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For the Supreme Court, the stakes go beyond Kavanaugh’s fate. It’s the latest evolution of a nominally non-partisan institution into an instrument of politics. In a nation divided, left and right are coming to view the court less as an interpreter of the law than as an activist imposer of moral and political outcomes. “It’s no coincidence that confirmations were less contentious when the court was engaging in less political decisionmaking,” says Leonard Leo, a top adviser to President Trump on judicial nominations. “When the court injects itself into lots of things that it shouldn’t, and when there’s lots of overreach by the court, that’s an inevitable thing.”

Funny how we didn’t read this same thing when Obama was nominating hardcore Progressives in Sonia Sotomayor and Elana Kagin. And then we move on to Excitable Jennifer Rubin, who’s TDS has exposed that she is in no way a Republican

If we want to protect the Supreme Court’s legitimacy, Kavanaugh should not be on it

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However, here I want to focus on what may be the most significant issue — whether Kavanaugh’s “big reveal” that he is an angry partisan who thinks Democrats conspired to get him — now disqualifies him to sit on any court, let alone the Supreme Court.

No need to go further. It’s all about the TDS. Were she a true conservative she’d be supporting Kavanaugh, who is exactly the type of judge we want on the court, one who will use the Constitution to decide arguments. Rubin has not written anything supporting the Republican side for over a decade, and is no way one anymore, but, just too highlight the TDS angle even more, here’s Taylor Millard at Hot Air

A Legitimate (And Provable) Reason To Not Support Kavanaugh For SCOTUS

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Kavanaugh’s stance on warrantless spying is extremely troubling – although there may be some signs his opinion has changed.

His original viewpoint on warrantless wiretapping claimed it was consistent with the Fourth Amendment. Kavanaugh expressed this outlook in a concurrence in the 2015 Klayman vs. Obama decision before the DC Circuit (emphasis mine).

This is the route that the #NeverTrumpers are taking. I see this from Outside The Beltway’s Doug Mataconis and so many other right leaning #NeverTrumpers. They’ve found essentially one ruling that means He Cannot Be Confirmed, and it all goes to Trump hatred.

Anyhow, the “the court will be ruined!!!!” talking point will coalesce more and more, especially when their attempts to shift the goal posts from a one week FBI investigation into a “let’s just keep investigating forever” one fail.