Legal
Poles apart
Whatever the outcome of Brett Kavanaugh’s hearing, the furore it’s created is only going to make political divisions worse.
The Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh has gripped a nation and opened a deluge of questions about sexual misconduct, the sort of temperament a potential justice should display and the beer-drinking habits of white male university students. Now everything has shifted to the FBI investigation and the great big elephant in the room: why has the process been so limited in time and scope? The non-criminal investigation was an attempt to please both sides but it’s neither a deep enough probe for Democrats nor likely to clear Kavanaugh’s name, as desired by Republicans. The Senate will probably approve his nomination – bar a last-minute waiver from a clutch of Republican swing senators – at the end of the week. Future justice or not, the debacle is only further entrenching Washington’s bitterly partisan politics.