Senator Collins is naive and/or willfully ignorant of the facts surrounding the Kavanaugh nomination.

     I would love to see capable people annotate the entire text of Senator Collins’ statement today explaining why she is going to vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh for a seat on the United States Supreme Court.   In the meantime, I see significant flaws in her analysis. 

     First, is the question of Roe v. Wade. Collins is convinced that a Justice Kavanaugh would not overturn it because he told her how much he respects precedent. Of course, that is what Chief Justice John Roberts said in his confirmation -- but then proceeded to vote, in Citizens United, to overturn a century of precedent involving campaign finance laws and the First Amendment.  Likewise, in Heller, Chief Justice Roberts voted to ignore long-standing precedents with respect to the the “well-ordered militia” language of the Second Amendment. So Senator Collins should not have been so credulous regarding Judge Kavanaugh’s assertions, particularly since his formative years in his pre-judicial career were spent as a right-wing political operative. The Federalist Society incubator cannot be ignored. Indeed, Senator Collins’ invocation of the pro-choice decisions of Republican appointees O’Connor, Kennedy, and Souter actually undercuts her argument. For the last quarter century, the rallying cry of anti-choice Republicans has been “No more Souters!” So now we have Justices Alito, Roberts, and Gorsuch, who with Justice Thomas, have consistently voted to undercut Roe. With retired Justice Kennedy about to be replaced by Judge Kavanaugh, the stage is set for the reversal. Lest Senator Collins think that this is not so, all she need do is look at how, earlier this year, Judge Kavanaugh placed insuperable roadblocks to an incarcerated 17 year old immigrant seeking to terminate her unwanted pregnancy before he was stopped by the full District of Columbia Circuit. Senator Collins’ naïveté is breathless.

     But what of Senator Collins’ conclusion that Judge Kavanaugh was truthful denying the Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez allegations? While Senator Collins seems to accept Dr. Ford’s good faith, she notes the possible incongruity of how Ford could have gotten home from a house near Columbia Country Club. The FBI could have looked into this, but did not. And there are plausible explanations, even though Dr. Ford, to her credit, did not speculate. And the FBI declined to interview her, even though she repeatedly offered to subject herself to such an interview.

     Compare this to Judge Kavanaugh’s insistence that his drinking never got out of hand -- a linchpin of Dr. Ford's allegation. Judge Kavanaugh's insistence is undercut by contemporary documentary evidence (his Georgetown Prep yearbook, his own calendar, his own note to his friends in advance of "Beach Week", and his friend Mike Judge's memoirs) and is directly refuted by sworn statements of many of his Georgetown Prep and Yale classmates. See here.  But the FBI refused to explore this vital aspect of the controversy, which also underlies Ms. Ramirez's allegation.  Indeed, other than interviewing Ms. Ramirez, the FBI did absolutely nothing to test the veracity of her allegation or  Judge Kavanaugh's denial.  Senator Collins simply ignores these grave, indeed fatal, flaws in the FBI "investigation." Instead she asserts that the FBI investigation satisfied her. (Given the gravity and evidence supporting Dr. Ford's and Ms. Ramirez's allegations, it is irrelevant to Judge Kavanaugh's veracity or responsibility whether there is truth to the Julia Swetnick allegations; but Senator Collins seizes on the Swetnick charge, to the exculsion of any serious consideration of the Ford or Ramirez charges.)

     Finally, Senator Collins ignores Judge Kavanaugh's dreadful, revealing performance last Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, in which his inner partisan hit-man instincts came out. This caused retired Justice John Paul Stevens (another Republican, albeit one who often voted with the Court’s liberals) to withdraw his endorsement.  But this did not seem to trouble Senator Collins at all.

     I do not know whether Collins is this naive or is willfully determined to ignore the salient facts. But I do know that I am utterly unpersuaded by her.