BEER AND MAN AT YALE: Binge drinking at Yale got critical attention in 2014 from the college magazine, with an illustration of 1962 beer chuggers. That was 20 years before Brett Kavanaugh arrived, but continuation of the practice has now become one of the issues in his confirmation to a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. Yale

The FBI has begun reviewing allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and in a week will produce what is likely to be inconclusive additional information on the allegations. For that reason,  It’s worth looking at (New York Times) how Kavanaugh has been a less than credible witness frequently, including but not limited to the recent dissembling about his high school and college years.

First and foremost, the angry partisanship he displayed Thursday is not a new concern. The American Bar Association cited it as a problem during his nomination to the Circuit Court of Appeals 12 years ago. Coincidentally, he and the Bush administration opposed afterward using the ABA as an evaluator of judicial appointees. At least Kavanaugh had a low regard of the ABA until Thursday, when he invoked the ABA’s “well qualified” rating of him for the Supreme Court seat. Since his testimony, the ABA president has urged a delay in his confirmation. Here’s more on his years as a political partisan street fighter.

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Meanwhile, more people have emerged to question Kavanaugh’s dismissal of reports that he was frequently a heavy drinker. They include Yale classmate Lynne Brooks, who describes herself as a Republican and who’d stayed silent until his testimony Thursday. She’s a roommate of Deborah Ramirez, who made one of the sexual allegations against Kavanaugh. Brookes said Kavanaugh was “blatantly lying” about his drinking.

“I watched the whole hearing, and a number of my Yale colleagues and I were extremely disappointed in Brett Kavanaugh’s characterization of himself and the way that he evaded his excessive drinking questions. There is no doubt in my mind that while at Yale, he was a big partier, often drank to excess, and there had to be a number of nights where he does not remember. In fact, I would witness to the night that he got tapped into that fraternity, and he was stumbling drunk in a ridiculous costume saying really dumb things. I can almost guarantee that there’s no way that he remembers that night … There were a lot of emails and a lot of texts flying around about how he was lying to the Senate Judiciary Committee today.”

But never mind drinking and, for the moment, put aside the sexual assault allegations from three women who’ve submitted sworn statements.

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Laurence Tribe, the Harvard law professor, cited on Twitter the key aspect of Kavanaugh’s angry testimony Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, in which he blamed an array of left-wing and Democratic interests including the Clintons for questions about his fitness.

If he were to serve on the Supreme Ct, Kavanaugh could not credibly participate in any case on the Court’s docket that involves one of the liberal “interest groups” that he excoriated so intemperately on Thursday, blaming them for scheming to destroy him. That’s a LOT of cases!!!

Of course, the Trump administration has ready a long list of Federalist approved nominees likely to be just as partial to the Republican agenda. They might make a better appearance, however. They could hardly do worse.

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You’re not likely to get any careful consideration of new information on Kavanaugh from Arkansas’s voters in the Senate. Sen. Tom Cotton effectively brands all the women as liars or stupid political pawns and wants a vote now. Sen John Boozman fell in line with the delay so that “due diligence” will be exhausted. But how sincere is he about that? From KTHV:

Boozman also raised concerns about “how much the well has been poisoned by the behavior of some senators” during the processing of confirming Kavanaugh. He called it “shameless attempts” to delay the vote “indefinitely by withholding information.”

The poison in the well is sworn statements from three women and corroborating testimony from many others. It is not Democratic senators’ attempt to fully develop those allegations. And withholding information? Please. There’s been an immense amount of information withheld about Kavanaugh’s time in the White House. Boozman is playing games with the truth, fitting in the context of Brett Kavanaugh.

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UPDATE: NBC reports that the White House has sharply limited what the FBI may investigate, notably omitting Michael Avenatti’s client who has described gang rapes at which Kavanaugh was present.  Looks like a sham. 

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