Nice to see that he’s been welcomed into the job with open arms. But they knew enough about him to know it wasn’t true. One has to wonder if Clarence Thomas said “I know what you feel.”
Via Fox News:
You know you have made it as an equal member of the Supreme Court when you’re comfortable enough to tease the lawyers during oral arguments.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh did that on just his second day on the bench.
“So you just changed the answer,” he told a lawyer who had abruptly switched his argument in a case on maritime law. When the lawyer admitted it, Kavanaugh wryly noted, “Okay, just making sure.”
The exchange brought courtroom laughter, and broad smiles from his bench-mates, the kind of thing that passes for humor at the often-stuffy court.
Despite the explosive political fight surrounding his confirmation, the 114th justice has been fitting nicely inside these marbled hallways, where most of the court’s work is done in private. Sources say Kavanaugh has been warmly embraced, after the most contentious judicial confirmation in the Senate’s history – one rocked by sexual assault allegations which Kavanaugh’s critics called disqualifying yet his allies described as unsubstantiated and part of a “wholesale character assassination.”
Kavanaugh denied the accusations and famously fired back at an emotional hearing where he and accuser Christine Blasey Ford testified separately. Weeks later, Washington has seemingly moved on to other midterm-season controversies: the migrant caravan, the mail bomber and birthright citizenship among them.
For Kavanaugh, the tensions surrounding his seating have, in turn, subsided. Some sense of normalcy has returned at the branch of government normally insulated from the Capitol discord across the street.
The daily work of being a Supreme Court justice is what occupies Kavanaugh’s time today.
“It’s been a long couple of months, and an obviously very contentious process, but the nice thing I’ve seen is him transitioning back in to the role that’s he’s most comfortable, which is as a judge, as a justice,” said Roman Martinez, a former Kavanaugh law clerk who remains a close friend and confidant. “It means doing the hard work getting into the cases, reading the briefs.”
Being welcomed into the exclusive club of nine — no questions asked — is a genuine show of comity, but it has practical roots. Getting along personally with each other promotes long-term stability, and can ease the sting of sharp ideological differences on hot-button issues.
To be sure, the dynamic of a 5-4 solid conservative majority will test the court’s ability to remain above the political fray. Some justices recently have voiced concern about the bitter confirmation damaging the court’s reputation.