The Senate hearing resembled nothing so much as a 17th-century rape trial. Let’s hope the grotesque spectacle enhances justice
Had it been a rehearsal, not the final hearing, notes for Brett Kavanaugh would surely have featured the suggestion, for the sake of verisimilitude, that he try to act a bit more like an actual judge. Part of the job description being, you imagine, the office holder’s ability to appear emphatic without pulling angry faces; to appear honest, without a reference from a 10-year-old; to subdue, for the sake of public faith in the judiciary, any behaviour that looks cheap, overblown, uncontrolled. And that includes sniffing.
Not the least mesmerising aspect of this allegedly brilliant jurist’s performance, at the hearing of his lifetime, was Kavanaugh’s refusal, like some wailing toddler, to submit to the offer of a tissue. In an ideal world, prosecutor Rachel Mitchell would have gone over and, sparing us all, dabbed his nose for him.
Related: ‘We’re in a screwed-up world’: Trump accusers respond to Kavanaugh hearing
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