Brett Kavanaugh has been anything thing but credible during his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
During the course of his sworn testimony, Kavanaugh habitually and repeatedly lied about many facts — small and large — including facts that are easily proven false by merely Googling. From the legal age for drinking in Maryland when he was swilling beer in high school to the meaning of crude slang terms on his self-composed yearbook page at Georgetown Preparatory School, Kavanaugh lied to senators and the nation under oath to advance his nomination and deflect questions about his alleged drunken sexual assault of Christine Blasey Ford in 1982, and inappropriate sexually aggressive behavior while drunk toward other women during high school his time at Yale University.
Kavanaugh’s lies matter, not because the facts he demonstrably lied about are significant to performing the duties of a federal judge or Supreme Court justice but because a man so willing to lie under oath about even trivial facts, to get a lifetime appointment to our highest court, lacks the character and veracity to hold such a position of public trust. Alternative facts have no place in the Supreme Court — or any court.
First, Kavanaugh repeatedly said under oath — and in a Fox News interview — that the legal drinking age in Maryland was 18 in 1982, so it was legal for seniors to drink beer. These statements are not true. In fact, effective July 1, 1982, the legal age for drinking beer and wine in Maryland was raised from 18 to 21. Those who were 18 on or before July 1, 1982, were grandfathered under the law, but that did not apply to Kavanaugh who was born on Feb. 12, 1965, and was only 17 years old on that date.
Thus, contrary to Kavanaugh’s sworn assertions, at no time during his time in high school was it legal for him to drink beer (or any other alcoholic beverage) in Maryland.
[Editorial: Kavanaugh is unfit for Supreme Court]
Further, it was also illegal for Kavanaugh to drink beer or other alcohol during most of his time at Yale as an undergraduate — including when Debbie Ramirez alleges that he drunkenly thrust his genitals in her face at a Yale dorm party during 1983. Connecticut began gradually raising its legal drinking age from 18 to 21, beginning in 1982 when it was raised from 18 to 19. In 1983, when 18-year-old Kavanaugh started his freshman year at Yale, Connecticut raised the drinking age to 20. On Sept. 1, 1985, the drinking age was again raised to 21, meaning Kavanaugh could not legally drink alcohol while at Yale until Feb. 12, 1986.
It is inconceivable that Kavanaugh, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for 12 years, did not know the truth about the legal drinking age in Maryland prior to offering this patently false testimony. His lies about the legality of his underage drinking and the law were knowing and calculated lies made under oath and that should matter — and should be disqualifying for a Supreme Court nominee.
Second, Kavanaugh lied under oath when asked about his use of profane, misogynistic slang terms for sexual acts on his high school yearbook page. Rather than owning the use of these terms as the immature, insensitive, boastful acts of his 17- or 18-year-old self, Kavanaugh instead chose to lie about the meaning of these terms — such as “devil’s triangle” and “boofed” — while under oath.
He also presented an elaborate explanation for another entry in his yearbook, “Anne Daughtery — I survived the FFFFFFourth of July.” Kavanaugh claimed this was not an acronym, but rather a play on a friend with a verbal tic who “wound up” his F’s before saying “the F-word.” Attorney Michael Avenatti — who is representing another Kavanaugh accuser, Julie Swetnik — has suggested that the true meaning of the abundance of “F’s” in this phrase was: “Find them, French them, Finger them, F—k them, Forget them.”
Again, the use of these crude terms on his high school yearbook page is not important, but his lying under oath about these terms is, and such demonstrable lies should be disqualifying.
If Kavanaugh lies so easily under oath about trivial facts so easily proven to be false, why would anyone ever believe Kavanaugh when he says he is innocent of abhorrent and even criminal acts against girls and women committed behind closed doors? More importantly, after demonstrably lying during his sworn testimony, why would anyone reward Kavanaugh with a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court that would give him unparalleled power over the lives of all Americans for generations?
Kim Ervin Tucker of Islesboro and Lincolnville is a lawyer admitted to practice law in Maine, Florida and the District of Columbia. She worked for the Florida attorney general for 17 years, specializing in constitutional and government law, including helping draft the Florida attorney general’s Supreme Court brief in Bush v. Gore, and was a special assistant attorney general for Mississippi on the Deepwater Horizon litigation.
Follow BDN Editorial & Opinion on Facebook for the latest opinions on the issues of the day in Maine.