Judge Brett Kavanaugh has nothing to apologize for in the eyes of normal people who are able to grasp that being accused of being a serial sex offender and having one's good name dragged through the mud rightly evokes a powerful rebuttal.
However, Judge Kavanaugh has written an excellent piece for today's Wall Street Journal reminding us that he has been an impartial judge and would be an impartial Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and addressing his hearing.
The Judge is forceful but not self-pitying, which is what most people would be after the kind of character attack that was mounted against him.
The disgraceful treatment of Judge Kavanaugh surpassed that meted out to Judge Robert Bork and Justice Clarence Thomas, but don't kid yourself: it will become the norm f the Kavanaugh nomination is defeated.
I hope those who complained about Judge Kavanaugh's daring to defend his reputation will also read an excellent response ("What It Feels Like to Be Falsely Accused"), also in the Wall Street Journal, from an Alexandria, Va., lawyer, Libby Locke, who handles clients who are defamed. She was not surprised at all at Kavanaugh's demeanor. She adds of his case:
He also faces a Catch-22 as a judicial nominee. His detractors in the media have decreed that the only way to demonstrate innocence is with an “authentic” emotional response, yet that response is taken as evidence of lack of an appropriate “judicial temperament”—as if a Justice Kavanaugh would be hearing his own case. Never mind his hundreds of opinions, the universal praise by litigants who have appeared before him, and the scores of women and men who’ve worked for and effusively praise him.
In an editorial aimed at Senator Jeff Flake, one of the Republicans whose vote will determine the outcome of this ordeal, National Review editors say something that all Senators should bear in mind: not only is Kavanaugh an exceptionally qualified judge but a vota against his confirmation would ratify what is arguably the most disgraceful behavior we've ever seen in American public life.