“Is This Judicial Temperament?” Kavanaugh’s Fiery Opening Remarks Light Up the Internet

The Supreme Court nominee’s furious defiance drew a lot of criticism.

Saul Loeb/AP

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“You may defeat me in the final vote, but you will never get me to quit. Never.” 

His face red and voice rising to a shout, Judge Brett Kavanaugh delivered a blistering rebuttal to the accusations of sexual assault leveled against him by three women, including Christine Blasey Ford, a psychology professor who described the grim details of her alleged assault to the Senate Judiciary Committee over several hours Thursday morning.

On social media, political commentators reacted to Kavanaugh’s furious tone:

https://twitter.com/JessicaValenti/status/1045396142224224256

The fury of Kavanaugh’s opening remarks drew parallels to Justice Clarence Thomas, who famously compared sexual harassment allegations against him to a “high-tech lynching.” 

Kavanaugh went on to criticize Democratic senators like Cory Booker of New Jersey—whom he did not refer to by name—for calling his supporters complicit in “evil.” 

Kavanaugh attached a partisan motivation to the allegations, saying they were driven by animus against President Donald Trump and even constituted “revenge on behalf of the Clintons.”

Listen: Jamilah King hosts a special breaking news edition of the Mother Jones Podcast, with Supreme Court reporter Stephanie Mencimer and Washington DC Bureau Chief David Corn. Everything you need to know about the historic Kavanaugh hearings—and what comes next.

We want to hear from you: How are you reacting to the hearing? We may publish a selection of your responses in a follow-up story.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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