Brett Kavanaugh Is the Supreme Court Nominee No One Wants

Before Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh could utter a single word on Tuesday morning, the Senate Judiciary Committee's Democratic members took turns calling for the session to be adjourned so that they could review the 42,000 pages of Kavanaugh-related documents that were released, incredibly, late on Monday night. Their efforts to shut down the proceedings failed, but in the hours that followed, a steady stream of protestors in the gallery tried their best, shouting and chanting until Capitol police could escort them from the room. Throughout, committee chair Chuck Grassley and the Republicans dutifully recited their prepared remarks, pretending not to notice the outrage unfolding in front of them. Kavanaugh sat stone-faced in his seat, pouring glasses of water and staring intently up at whichever senator was speaking from the dais.

It was an uncomfortable spectacle for Kavanaugh's defenders. It was also a fairly accurate representation of the state of his nomination, because as his week of confirmation hearings begins, he stands in a unique position among Supreme Court nominees: Outside of the president who tapped him and the Senate Republicans who will support him on that basis alone, Brett Kavanaugh is the nominee that no one likes and no one particularly wants.

For someone who only recently became a household name, the extent of his unpopularity is pretty impressive: A Politico survey found that only 37 percent of Americans actually back his candidacy, with 29 percent opposing it and a whopping 34 percent still undecided. As recently as a few weeks ago, his numbers were under water: In a Fox News poll, more respondents favored rejecting him (46 percent) than putting him on the bench (45 percent). Even among Republican voters, Politico says, just 67 percent approve of Kavanaugh. The constituency one would expect to be most excited about the prospect of an anti-choice, pro–executive power Supreme Court justice has looked at this guy and managed only a collective shrug.

Watch:

Trump Is Running the Government Like a Cheap Reality TV Show

This failure of the Republican PR apparatus is not for lack of trying. As The Intercept notes, conservative groups have poured tens of millions of dollars into ginning up some grassroots enthusiasm for their man. But a recent anti-choice rally in Denver scheduled opposite a Kavanaugh protest drew zero attendees, prompting existential questions about whether a demonstration without demonstrators ever occurs in the first place. "Rallies" in support of Kavanaugh have been quietly downgraded to press conferences after organizers realized that turnout won't match their aspirations. Right now, his closest historical parallels are Robert Bork, whose nomination failed in the Senate, and Harriet Miers, whose name was withdrawn by President George W. Bush after legislators of all stripes judged her unprepared and unqualified. This is not the company he hoped to keep.

Despite Kavanaugh's historic unpopularity, the Republican majority in the Senate means that his chances are probably still better than 50-50. This fact says a lot about the extent to which Grassley and company have become unmoored from the notions of transparency and principled governance they claim to hold dear. But it is also a grim illustration of our peculiar political reality: Thanks to their embrace of cynical obstructionism, GOP politicians at last have the chance to cobble together a Supreme Court coalition that will overturn Roe, despite most Americans' wishes to the contrary. And since Kavanaugh comes courtesy of a floundering president who was recently implicated in a federal crime—and since midterm elections loom in November—Grassley has no choice but to plow ahead before midnight strikes on this unified Republican government.

The collective national distaste for Kavanaugh makes perfect sense. He is a Republican above all else, a partisan ideologue who cloaks himself in judicial robes so that he can wield a brand of power that regular politicians cannot obtain. His proponents are engaged in an unprecedented effort to usher him into the seat while shielding his dubious record from public scrutiny. Americans do not want this type of person to obtain a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court. For another two months, though, the only votes that matter are those of the 50 Republicans in the Senate. They're shutting their eyes, covering their ears, and pretending that no one else exists.