Kavanaugh Can Join Thomas.

[Angrboda]

Charles Grassley, "Do as I say, not as I do."

There is a code of conduct for federal judges that would similarly render Kavanaugh unfit for office should the sexual misconduct allegations against him be proved in an ethics proceeding. But at the moment, ethics complaints against federal judges are handled in-house and closely guarded by the judges themselves. In 2016, there were more than 1,300 such complaints throughout the country, but only four were investigated. An average of fewer than one judge per year is criticized by his or her colleagues for misbehavior.

Ironically, Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has repeatedly proposed legislation to create a judicial inspector general, which would have authority to investigate and report on allegations such as those recently levied against Kavanaugh. As my office did in the Hedges case, such a federal inspector general would collect extrinsic evidence and take sworn testimony in a professional deposition setting from many more witnesses than the two principals whom the Senate Judiciary Committee will limit itself to interrogating in a political setting.

(Washington Post)

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Kavanaugh says he never blacked out from drinking. Can he swear to it?

Once believed to be primarily a problem of advanced alcoholics, blackouts are in fact common among young drinkers, according to recent research. In a pioneering study led by Aaron White, then of Duke University, 51 percent of college students who had ever consumed alcohol answered yes to the question “Have you ever awoken after a night of drinking not able to remember things that you did or places that you went?” Among respondents who had consumed alcohol during the previous two weeks, nearly 1 in 10 reported having blacked out while doing so.

We’re not talking passing out. According to White, who is now a senior scientist at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, blackouts occur when alcohol interrupts the formation of new long-term memory in the brain. People in this state of amnesia may appear relatively competent to observers. Using already existing memory, combined with new stimuli, they can engage in activity, carry on brief exchanges, recognize friends — even, yikes, operate cars.

But there are telltales. Perhaps you’ve met an overserved bore who keeps repeating the same fragment of conversation. It’s partial amnesia — he can’t remember what he said three minutes earlier. Or think of that tipsy person who can’t remember where she left her purse.

Unfortunately, this isn’t just a harmless matter of nattering and misplaced possessions. White and other scientists have documented more serious offenses that can vanish from a social drinker’s memory. In White’s 2002 survey of 772 college students, “many respondents later learned that, during the blackout, they had vandalized property, driven an automobile, had sexual intercourse, or engaged in other risky behaviors.”

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USA Today shares photos of Bret Kavanaugh's calendar from 1982