The Kavanaugh Hustle: E.J. Dionne, Wash Post

Republicans and President Trump share the same inclinations when it comes to one of the worst habits in our politics: placing ideology and partisanship above the health of our institutions.

While Trump is destroying the honor and reputation of the presidency, Senate Republicans are doing all they can to destroy the legitimacy of the Supreme Court. When it comes to this last line of appeal in our legal system, the GOP has treated court appointments in the same way machine politicians once treated jobs in city sewer departments: If you have the clout, you use it to place your people. Period.

And on this one, the machine hacks hold the higher moral ground, because the consequences of the Brett M. Kavanaugh Hustle and the Merrick Garland Mugging are much greater than the costs of giving somebody’s brother-in-law the task of fixing the pipes.

Conservatives are willing to bend and break the rules, violate decorum and tradition, hide information and push Judge Kavanaugh through at breakneck speed. They want a Supreme Court that will achieve their policy objectives — on regulation, access to the ballot, social issues, the influence of money in politics and the role of corporations in our national life — no matter what citizens might prefer in the future.

This is not fantasy. The Roberts court again and again has swept aside precedent to foil the wishes of the elected branches of our government on the Voting Rights Act, campaign finance reform, environmental rules and a host of other issues. We are witnessing conservative judicial activism on a scale not seen since the New Deal era brought about a crisis over the Supreme Court's authority.

Kavanaugh will push the court much further right. Everything we know about him points to a man who is fierce and unapologetic in his partisanship and relentless in advancing his ideology. His confirmation will be the equivalent of handing the court over to the Heritage Foundation and the legal staff of Koch Industries.

The talk of civility is laughable in light of the Republicans’ refusal to give Garland — a judge whose quality Kavanaugh himself extolled — either a hearing or a vote. That was not just incivility, it was an abuse of power reflecting the political right’s determination to seize control of the court by any means necessary...

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