I can't stress enough how thoroughly disqualifying it was for a sitting federal judge to act Kavanaugh did yesterday.
Two obvious points: He has every right to be outraged at death threats towards his family. He also has every right to defend himself and his actions.
That does not extend to launching angry tirades about "friends of the Clintons" or warning Democratic lawmakers that "what comes around goes around."
This isn't some starry-eyed Sorkinesque paean to norms. Judges have to be able to keep their cool under immense pressure and caustic personal criticism. It's not a bonus. It's the literal job.
Think of Gonzalo Curiel, who faced a campaign of racist taunts and attacks on his integrity by Trump in 2016. Curiel (rightly) didn't say a word in his own defense and proved those attacks wrong.
Imagine if any of the "so-called judges" who ruled against Trump had responded with partisan conspiracy theories. Or if Sonia Sotomayor had lashed out at senators who twisted her "wise Latina" remark beyond recognition.
I genuinely can't imagine Gorsuch or Alito or Roberts or Breyer acting as belligerently and vengeful as Kavanaugh did yesterday. Even Thomas showed more restraint in 1991: newrepublic.com/article/151440…
