@KarenGrossEdu Editor’s note: This commentary is by Karen Gross, the former president of Southern Vermont College, who is now an author and educational consultant in Washington, D.C.this commentary first appeared in VTDIGGER.
I had been conflicted over Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment to the Supreme Court. For starters, Merrick Garland, a true moderate and deeply qualified, should have had that seat but we know why he doesn’t: politics. And, we are missing many documents related to Brett Kavanaugh’s work, on and off of a court. And the absence of the needed papers is related to politics. Nothing new there. And, then there is the rush toward confirmation as if it needs to be completed before November elections, lest the power shift be so great, he wouldn’t get confirmed, another example of politics.
Now, on the merits of his suitability for a position on the highest court in our land, I had been somewhat ambivalent. This is one smart man, with support from those who worked with him on the left and the right. But, I was struck by a recent incident involving Judge Kavanaugh, an incident that derailed my possible support for his ascending to the Supreme Court and it did not involve politics – at least not directly.
The father of a child murdered at Parkland was at the confirmation hearing. His name is Fred Guttenberg. He surely suffered what is unimaginable for many of us: the death of a child in a violent manner. He extended his hand to nominee Kavanaugh who appears to turn his back on Mr. Guttenberg. Some accounts suggest the judge pulled his own hand back. Other accounts suggest the judge knew who the person extending the hand was — Jaime’s father and an anti-gun advocate.
I have seen the video and still photos of that moment. I have read accounts in the media. I have read the White House spin — that Judge Kavanaugh wanted to shake hands but time was short and security whisked him away.
Here’s what I’d ask as you read all this and see the video online: Look at Judge Kavanaugh’s facial expression and body language. Does that look like someone ready to shake someone’s hand with sympathy? Do you see him engage his eyes with the grieving father? Was the judge rushed away because of the extended hand or independent of that proffered handshake?
You know the old children’s expression: Action speaks louder than words. That seems most fitting here. Judge Kavanaugh’s words, and there are plenty of them, surely matter. But his action – in this case inaction – speaks even louder. Not shaking the hand of a grieving father – whether or not you believe in a strong Second Amendment – shows a lack of empathy. It looks as though the judge’s empathy engine was in reverse gear.
We can say, with 20/20 hindsight, that things were moving too fast to enable a handshake but, in my mind, there is always enough time to extend one’s sympathy to a fellow human being … even for a second or with a glance, if shaking hands was not possible.
My ambivalence about Judge Kavanaugh is gone. I want a justice with empathy engines working full steam. Law often is about humans and human life. I want a justice who can appreciate the pains and misfortunes and life conditions of people. Those aren’t law based. Those are values arising at the core of one’s being.
Many moons ago, in a Supreme Court dissent written by Justice Marshall in United States v. Kras (involving in forma pauperis filings in bankruptcy cases), the justice uttered these words, after decrying that his fellow justices did not know what it was like to be poor. These words have stayed with me as an exemplar of what we need in justices sitting in judgment over human lives. I quote: “It is perfectly proper for judges to disagree about what the Constitution requires. But it is disgraceful for an interpretation of the Constitution to be premised upon unfounded assumptions about how people live.”
If I had a vote, which I most assuredly do not, it would be against the confirmation of Judge Kavanaugh. I saw all I needed to see. Or phrased more accurately, I didn’t see (literally) what I needed to see.
Commentaries are voices from the community and do not represent the views or opinions of Forest Of The Rain Productions or any of its affiliates.
I had been conflicted over Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment to the Supreme Court. For starters, Merrick Garland, a true moderate and deeply qualified, should have had that seat but we know why he doesn’t: politics. And, we are missing many documents related to Brett Kavanaugh’s work, on and off of a court. And the absence of the needed papers is related to politics. Nothing new there. And, then there is the rush toward confirmation as if it needs to be completed before November elections, lest the power shift be so great, he wouldn’t get confirmed, another example of politics.
Now, on the merits of his suitability for a position on the highest court in our land, I had been somewhat ambivalent. This is one smart man, with support from those who worked with him on the left and the right. But, I was struck by a recent incident involving Judge Kavanaugh, an incident that derailed my possible support for his ascending to the Supreme Court and it did not involve politics – at least not directly.
The father of a child murdered at Parkland was at the confirmation hearing. His name is Fred Guttenberg. He surely suffered what is unimaginable for many of us: the death of a child in a violent manner. He extended his hand to nominee Kavanaugh who appears to turn his back on Mr. Guttenberg. Some accounts suggest the judge pulled his own hand back. Other accounts suggest the judge knew who the person extending the hand was — Jaime’s father and an anti-gun advocate.
I have seen the video and still photos of that moment. I have read accounts in the media. I have read the White House spin — that Judge Kavanaugh wanted to shake hands but time was short and security whisked him away.
Here’s what I’d ask as you read all this and see the video online: Look at Judge Kavanaugh’s facial expression and body language. Does that look like someone ready to shake someone’s hand with sympathy? Do you see him engage his eyes with the grieving father? Was the judge rushed away because of the extended hand or independent of that proffered handshake?
You know the old children’s expression: Action speaks louder than words. That seems most fitting here. Judge Kavanaugh’s words, and there are plenty of them, surely matter. But his action – in this case inaction – speaks even louder. Not shaking the hand of a grieving father – whether or not you believe in a strong Second Amendment – shows a lack of empathy. It looks as though the judge’s empathy engine was in reverse gear.
We can say, with 20/20 hindsight, that things were moving too fast to enable a handshake but, in my mind, there is always enough time to extend one’s sympathy to a fellow human being … even for a second or with a glance, if shaking hands was not possible.
My ambivalence about Judge Kavanaugh is gone. I want a justice with empathy engines working full steam. Law often is about humans and human life. I want a justice who can appreciate the pains and misfortunes and life conditions of people. Those aren’t law based. Those are values arising at the core of one’s being.
Many moons ago, in a Supreme Court dissent written by Justice Marshall in United States v. Kras (involving in forma pauperis filings in bankruptcy cases), the justice uttered these words, after decrying that his fellow justices did not know what it was like to be poor. These words have stayed with me as an exemplar of what we need in justices sitting in judgment over human lives. I quote: “It is perfectly proper for judges to disagree about what the Constitution requires. But it is disgraceful for an interpretation of the Constitution to be premised upon unfounded assumptions about how people live.”
If I had a vote, which I most assuredly do not, it would be against the confirmation of Judge Kavanaugh. I saw all I needed to see. Or phrased more accurately, I didn’t see (literally) what I needed to see.
Commentaries are voices from the community and do not represent the views or opinions of Forest Of The Rain Productions or any of its affiliates.