Some of the Greatest Justices Were Nasty and Partisan, Actually
The temperament argument, at least when taken in isolation, is not convincing.
Keep calm and be confirmed.
Photographer: Andrew Harnik/Bloomberg
The temperament question has come to the heated debate about the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh. The basic idea is that by raising his voice during the final part of his confirmation hearing, discourteously interrupting and confronting senators, and depicting the charges against him as politically motivated, the nominee showed himself to have a character not suitable for a U.S. Supreme Court justice.
More than 1,000 of my law professor colleagues have signed a letter, addressed to the U.S. Senate and published by the New York Times, opposing Kavanaugh’s confirmation on these grounds. They cite the Congressional Research Service as saying, “a judge requires ‘a personality that is even-handed, unbiased, impartial, courteous yet firm, and dedicated to a process, not a result.’”