BETWEEN 118 confirmed — who also served — and 12 rejected US Supreme Court nominations from 1789 to the present, the case of Brett Kavanaugh is not only peculiar but also uncharacteristically extraordinary in American history.

The scale and cause of public protests that prevailed against this nomination have no precedent in US history for such a high level and prestigious Supreme Court nomination. The times, however, have changed and there is a dire need for the process to be re-examined and revisited to make it more apolitical and fair.

Mr Kavanaugh’s nomination and senate committee hearings became a media trial before settling down on a bitterly divided vote. Its after-effects will never go away, at least not in the foreseeable future and every decision (or observation) by Mr Kavanaugh will be judged according to what went on and how his personality emerged from this saga.

The bellicose Trump era has an authoritarian look — perhaps a rare type of dictatorship.

Anas A. Khan

Edmonton AB, Canada

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2018