Kavanaugh A Long Shot, As Ginsburg, Gorsuch Battle For Evasiveness Crown

As Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s turn to waffle at a confirmation hearing approaches, a spat has broken about who, among relatively recent nominees, was the most evasive. Republican senators claim it was Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but Democrats say the honor belongs to Neil Gorsuch. Their contention is buttressed by a study of nominee responsiveness by two law professors. They coded responses from hearings back to 1939. If a nominee refused to answer on grounds that the issue in question might come before the court, that was considered a “privileged” response based on ethical concerns. If they just refused to give a firm answer, they were being evasive. Ginsburg had a high percentage of privileged answers, but they were more than offset by her firm answers. Gorsuch had fewer privileged answers, but a near record-setting number of refusals to give firm answers, which seems to give him the edge when it comes to evasiveness. One of the study’s authors offered an example: Sen. Richard Blumenthal asked if Gorsuch agreed with the Supreme Court’s 1954 decision declaring segregation in public schools unconstitutional. He answered that it was “a correct application of the law of precedent,” a total waffle, because the Supreme Court can always overturn precedent, and already has, with Gorsuch voting in the affirmative.