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The Kavanaugh nomination is another big step in the politicization of the Supreme Court
Politics
The Kavanaugh nomination is another big step in the politicization of the Supreme Court
By Dan Balz
Chief correspondent covering national politics, the presidency and Congress
September 22 at 11:51 AM
The battle over the confirmation of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court marks another significant step in the transformation of the high court into one more polarizing political body. It has been a long time coming. In the climate that exists today, it will not easily be undone. .... The court has never been free from politics, but changes over time have generated the rawest of politics around the court. The names of Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill, and more recently Merrick Garland, are some of the touchstones on this path. The case of Bush v. Gore, which decided the 2000 election, is another.
....
The stakes in the Kavanaugh confirmation could not be greater. His confirmation would shift the balance of the court in a conservative direction possibly for a generation. With filibusters no longer allowed on Supreme Court nominations, the need for anything approaching cross-party consensus in a closely divided chamber has disappeared.
Numbers are all that matter. A simple majority rules. If McConnell can hold all his fellow Republicans, the battle will be over. If not, he must hope that some embattled red-state Democrats fear that a vote against Kavanaugh will cost them their seats in November. Those Democrats will be calculating survival odds in both directions. For them, too, it’s about winning or losing.
....
Like so much in political life today, the Kavanaugh confirmation battle will not end peacefully or with a resolution that satisfies both sides. There will be no splitting the difference on this. There was a time when politicians, after a bitterly fought election, would say, “That was the campaign, and now is the time for governing.” Those days are long gone, and the Supreme Court increasingly is caught in the same net as the rest of the political system.
Dan Balz is chief correspondent at The Washington Post. He has served as the paper’s deputy national editor, political editor, White House correspondent and Southwest correspondent. Follow https://twitter.com/danbalz
The Kavanaugh nomination is another big step in the politicization of the Supreme Court
By Dan Balz
Chief correspondent covering national politics, the presidency and Congress
September 22 at 11:51 AM
The battle over the confirmation of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court marks another significant step in the transformation of the high court into one more polarizing political body. It has been a long time coming. In the climate that exists today, it will not easily be undone. .... The court has never been free from politics, but changes over time have generated the rawest of politics around the court. The names of Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill, and more recently Merrick Garland, are some of the touchstones on this path. The case of Bush v. Gore, which decided the 2000 election, is another.
....
The stakes in the Kavanaugh confirmation could not be greater. His confirmation would shift the balance of the court in a conservative direction possibly for a generation. With filibusters no longer allowed on Supreme Court nominations, the need for anything approaching cross-party consensus in a closely divided chamber has disappeared.
Numbers are all that matter. A simple majority rules. If McConnell can hold all his fellow Republicans, the battle will be over. If not, he must hope that some embattled red-state Democrats fear that a vote against Kavanaugh will cost them their seats in November. Those Democrats will be calculating survival odds in both directions. For them, too, it’s about winning or losing.
....
Like so much in political life today, the Kavanaugh confirmation battle will not end peacefully or with a resolution that satisfies both sides. There will be no splitting the difference on this. There was a time when politicians, after a bitterly fought election, would say, “That was the campaign, and now is the time for governing.” Those days are long gone, and the Supreme Court increasingly is caught in the same net as the rest of the political system.
Dan Balz is chief correspondent at The Washington Post. He has served as the paper’s deputy national editor, political editor, White House correspondent and Southwest correspondent. Follow https://twitter.com/danbalz
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