In the wake of Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation and swearing in as the newest associate justice on the US Supreme Court at a subsequent private ceremony, journalist Ashley Feinberg was among those who returned to his charged testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, September 27 when she declared Saturday afternoon: “I just keep thinking about [his] sneering ‘what goes around comes around.'”
Those words by Kavanaugh were delivered as part of a sneering counter-attack aimed at Democratic members of the committee and the wider American public viewing the hearing on televisions nationwide. In part, it looked like this:
But while the overtly partisan remarks and the manner with which he delivered them led many to the conclusion that Kavanaugh did not have the “judicial temperament” to sit on the nation’s highest court, author and journalist Naomi Klein posited that it is more important than ever to understand that moment and recognize the profound ramifications it will have going forward now that Justice Kavanaugh is a reality.
As Feinberg’s colleague at the Huffington Post, Paul Blumenthal, points out — in a piece titled, “The Coming Kavanaugh Court Doctrine: Democrats Are Unconstitutional” — the threat of “what goes around comes around” could have serious implications for “cases that help Republicans and harm Democrats” in the future.
“Essentially what he did is he took his mask off and he revealed himself as a politician who wears a robe,” Jessica Levinson, a Loyola Law School professor, told Blumenthal.
Meanwhile, in her online thread composed on Saturday, Klein argued that the “snarl” Kanavaugh offered during his confirmation hearing is only a taste of what’s to come:
A thread about Kavanaugh on this dark day: No matter what happens next, we have to remember his snarl. Engrave it into our collective hippocampus.
— Naomi Klein (@NaomiAKlein) October 6, 2018
Kavanaugh has tried to present his partisan rage-storm as out of character, the result of being a “son, husband and dad” falsely accused. In the coming months, we can expect him to take great pains to perform a more reassuring judge-like character.
— Naomi Klein (@NaomiAKlein) October 6, 2018
But we must never be fooled. Because that snarl was a wide open window into what this fight has always been about. Kavanaugh is being appointed not *in spite* of that snarl but precisely because of it.
— Naomi Klein (@NaomiAKlein) October 6, 2018
Because underneath his “gee-whiz I-love-coaching-girl’s-basketball” kitsch, he is a snarling gargoyle who can be counted on not just to defend himself but the whole damn frat known as the Republican Party + its billionaire backers. Against all threats to their power + wealth.
— Naomi Klein (@NaomiAKlein) October 6, 2018
That’s what he showed as Ken Starr’s attack dog and that’s what he showed as George W Bush’s guard dog – even though it meant changing his legal position 180 degrees from one administration to the next.
— Naomi Klein (@NaomiAKlein) October 6, 2018
It is the combination of viciousness and total moral flexibility that is what had endeared him to the men behind his nomination and imminent confirmation. He has shown he will do whatever it takes to protect them. That’s why he was worth backing despite his copious baggage.
— Naomi Klein (@NaomiAKlein) October 6, 2018
So no matter how genteelly he forces himself to behave in the future, remember that the snarl was the truth – not just about his character but about his true purpose on the bench.
— Naomi Klein (@NaomiAKlein) October 6, 2018
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