(This post may contain disputed claims. We make no assertions as to the validity of the information presented by our Opinion Columnist. We are an opinion blog, not a traditional news outlet, and this post should be treated as such. Enjoy.)Justice Brett Kavanaugh took his seat on the Supreme Court in October after a tense confirmation battle which saw salacious, decades-old sexual assault allegations aimed at the judge in a shameless attempt to discredit his previously unimpeachable character. Now, two months later, Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) has revealed the text message he sent her in the midst of it all.
During a wide-ranging interview on Thursday night’s edition of “The Story With Martha MacCallum,” Senator Collins shared the contents of a text message she received from Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh following his Senate confirmation — in which she played a crucial role.
When MacCallum asked whether or not Kavanaugh had been in contact with her since the bitter confirmation battle concluded and he took his seat on the Supreme Court, Collins responded that the pair has not talked. However, she did say that Kavanaugh texted her right after the confirmation.
“I have gotten one text message from him right after it in which he said that he would work hard to make me proud and the American people proud,” revealed the Republican Senator.
Speaking about the political and social ramifications of the Kavanaugh fight, Collins said, “I felt so strongly that we were really at a critical point for our country.”
“The Senate confirmation process is not a trial, but there are certain standards that we have to abide by, and if we are gonna throw overboard the presumption of innocence despite the complete lack of corroborating evidence even from Dr. Ford’s best friend, and if we were going to dispense with fairness, the rule of law, and due process, I really feared for what our country would become and whether anyone would be willing to put their name forth for public service. I mean, who would go through that?” she told MacCallum.
Collins was widely considered a swing vote for Kavanaugh’s nomination, with many Democrats hoping she would ultimately say “no” to his confirmation. However, the way that her colleagues on the opposite side of the aisle treated the sensitive situation with Kavanaugh’s accusers seemed to convince her that the entire ordeal was little more than a politically-inspired charade to keep President Donald Trump’s pick off the Supreme Court.
“What is puzzling to me is the Democrats, by not bringing this out earlier, after having had this information for more than six weeks, have managed to cast a cloud of doubt on both the professor and the judge,” Collins told The New York Times in reference to the fact that Sen. Dianne Feinstein waited a month and a half before making Christine Blasey Ford’s claims public on the eve of Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
“If they believed Professor Ford, why didn’t they surface this information earlier so that he could be questioned about it?” asked Senator Collins. “And if they didn’t believe her and chose to withhold the information, why did they decide at the 11th hour to release it? It is really not fair to either of them the way it is was handled.”
Indeed. It is not fair that such a well-respected man of impeccable character, having worked so hard for so many years to have achieved the level of success necessary to be nominated to the highest court in the country, should have his name dragged through the mud in such a way.
As Senator Collins noted, who would subject themselves to a process like the one Brett Kavanaugh was made to endure? Thankfully, he was confirmed and he and his family can now put the entire ordeal behind them. Kavanaugh deserves to be on the Supreme Court, and anyone with any doubt about that needs to have their head examined.
