In the wake of the political fiasco that was the Kavanaugh hearing, there is one senator that every North Carolina voter should remember: Thom Tillis. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Thom Tillis failed in his duties of ensuring that justice prevails in the Senate chambers.
Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed into the Supreme Court on Saturday with a 50-48 vote. Thom Tillis predictably voted in favor of the vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh. This, however, is the least of Tillis’ wrongdoings. Tillis showed North Carolinians his true feelings for justice from the time the nomination process began to the moment he cast that vote for the newest justice.
On Sept. 27, Senator Tillis released an official statement on the Kavanaugh hearing. In his statement, Tillis stated that he believed “Dr. Ford’s claims that she was sexually assaulted by someone, and it is the Senate’s responsibility to look at any evidence available in relation to the nominee.”
By his own standards, Sen. Tillis failed in doing his job. As the time grew closer to vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation, more and more information in relation to the nominee was put forward to the Senate. The day of the confirmation vote, Dr. Ford’s attorney released a statement from a witness that corroborated her story. In the face of all this evidence, Sen. Tillis did not once hesitate to believe that Brett Kavanaugh was an innocent man.
Not only did Sen. Tillis not do his job in requesting for an FBI investigation, but when the investigation was finally conducted, Tillis said nothing about the haphazard nature of the probe. In its investigation of Kavanaugh, the FBI only interviewed nine people. Missing from the list of people interviewed by the FBI were Christine Blasey Ford; Judge Kavanaugh; more than 20 witnesses provided by Kavanaugh’s second accuser, Deborah Ramirez; the third accuser, Julia Swetnick; and nearly all of Kavanaugh’s Yale classmates.
Following the Senate hearing, several of Judge Kavanaugh’s Yale classmates came out with statements claiming that he was a heavy drinker while at the institution. One of whom, Charles Ludington, is a history professor here at NC State. Their claims that Kavanaugh was a heavy drinker are direct contradictions of the statements the judge made while under oath.
If the allegations about Kavanaugh’s drinking habits are indeed true, then the newest member of the Supreme Court clearly committed perjury during his Senate hearing. Not only would this automatically disqualify him from the job he currently holds, but it would also give more credibility to the accounts of his accusers.
Tillis should be incredibly concerned with the lack of investigation on Kavanaugh’s possible perjury. In his own words, Tillis said of Kavanaugh, “As a federal judge, he is well aware he made every statement under threat of criminal penalty.”
Tillis has already established that he has no tolerance for public officials believing they are above the law. In 2016, he issued a statement on Hillary Clinton saying, “the American people deserve full transparency of how and why the FBI and Justice Department came to their conclusion.” Tillis went on to say, “No person should be above the law.” Following his own logic, Sen. Tillis should be outraged at the inadequate investigation we received. Tillis should also be horrified that Judge Kavanaugh appeared to be above the law with their being no follow-up on his potential perjury.
It is clear that Sen. Tillis is not interested in bringing justice to the Senate or maintaining a firm ethical grounding. He is instead interested in making sure that his team, the Republican party, continues to win the game of partisanship. Unfortunately for voters, Tillis will not be on the ballot this November. His reelection will not be until the 2020 elections. However, citizens angry at Tillis can still get involved in the effort to vote him out right now.
Already, there is a viable Democrat set on challenging Tillis in 2020. While it is recommended to wait for the field to grow before immediately choosing a candidate, voters can still contribute to the NC Democratic Party to give whoever the nominee is a financial edge. In addition to this, the ballot referendum to insert voter ID laws into the NC constitution this year must be defeated to allow more people to the polls in 2020.
Voters need to remember this moment where Thom Tillis failed us to bring justice to the highest court of the land. Sen. Tillis willingly allowed a potential sexual assailant to make his way to the Supreme Court with minimal vetting. For this, voters must stay active up until the day we vote him out.
