Looking for some positive and hopeful ways to resolve the current "situation" with Brett Kavanaugh? Here's four different ways that Democrats can still prevail....
Impeachment
I think this is more likely than anyone realizes. There were 59 Democrat senators when Barack Obama first got elected -- but he lost a bunch of them when they ran for re-election in the low-interest midterm election of 2014. So in 2020 -- a very-high-interest presidential election -- it seems very likely Democrats will win back those 59 seats. Except we now also have a Democrat Senator from Alabama. And we're about to win more new Democrat seats in Tennessee, Nevada, Arizona (and maybe even Texas). When Susan Collins loses in Maine, and Murkowski crosses party lines in Alaska, you actually get pretty close to the magic number of 67 votes to impeach. So Kavanaugh's time on the Supreme Court will last approximately 27 months. Then he'll be booted out, living out the remainder of his lifetime with the shame of his historic disgrace.
Criminal Charges
There's no statute of limitations in Maryland, so any and all of Brett's crimes and assaults can still be investigated. Ford, Swetnick, Ramirez, and whoever else comes forward can then start a police investigation at any time. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. The FBI has reportedly received thousands of tips alleging Kavanaugh wrong-doing -- none of which have (yet) been investigated. (There's even credible reports that college-kid Kavanaugh vandalized a truck in a drunken rage.) Democrats are promising to investigate everything -- an investigation fully backed by subpoena power -- when they take over the House in January.
"I know that hard evidence that will discredit Kavanaugh and his friends will become public eventually," Digby wrote this morning. And a prosecution in an actual courtroom would look a lot different than a rigged hearing run by Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham. I honestly think there's a chance Brett Kavanaugh won't be able to serve out his term on the Supreme Court -- because he'll be in jail.
Back to the Minority
There's one scenario people always overlook. When a Democrat wins the Presidency in 2020, they'll be able to appoint a new Justice to replace anyone who retires from 2020-2028. Clarence Thomas will turn 80 at some point during that time, and if he were to retire Democrats could instantly revert the court back to a saner 5-4 majority. We just don't know how the other justices will react to having to share their bench with a partisan frat boy like Kavanaugh. It's a longshot, but one of them may decide that a 5-4 right-wing majority really is hurting the Supreme Court's reputation -- not to mention harming America -- and they'll have the power to stop it at any time.
But fortunately, we won't have to rely on that, because of....
Court Packing
This one is almost certain to happen. When Democrats retake the White House in 2020 (along with both chambers of Congress) they can easily appoint two new Supreme Court Justices, giving the liberal wing a 6-5 majority. This is already being widely discussed -- Josh Marshall came out in favor of it, citing articles in both the New York Times and American Prospect. The Supreme Court has only had nine justices since 1869, and the Constitution grants Congress the power to add new justices with a simple majority -- that is, just 51 votes.
At that point, Brett Kavanaugh will be relegated to an absolute and total irrelevance for the remainder of his lifetime, never making a single decision which will actually go into effect. Then he'll have two choices -- decades of irrelevance, or an early retirement -- trapped by his own ambition into a private hell of powerlessness and shame.
So don't lose hope. Kavanaugh's "lifetime appointment" will be over sooner than anyone thinks -- and if you want to do something about Brett Kavanaugh, you're not powerless. There's something you can do now: lay the groundwork for that Democratic majority that's going to fix the Supreme Court in the years to come in this election. The best idea I've heard all year is "Don't just vote -- volunteer." There's a new web site called SwingLeft that's trying to steer volunteers to the most crucial districts near them, and MoveOn.org has their own map of campaign events happening all around the U.S. to make it even easier to get involved. Think of it as sending Brett Kavanaugh a message: America isn't done with you yet.
Remember, reaching voters in 2018 makes them more likely to also vote Democratic in the equally-important 2020 elections, and we really can win this one -- if we turn all our feeling and emotion into action.
We are the blue wave we've been waiting for.