No, not that kind. Ick.
CNN has a behind the scenes report on the Supreme Court’s deliberations in the Alabama gerrymandering case in which they surprisingly found that the state had violated the Voting Rights Act:
When the Supreme Court considered the challenge to an Alabama congressional map that shortchanged the state’s Black voters, liberal justices expected the conservative majority to side with Alabama – if not gut the 1965 Voting Rights Act altogether.
Instead, the justices emerged from their first closed-door conference meeting on the case in October 2022 without a solid majority for either side, CNN has learned. Ordinarily, this meeting, held without any law clerks or other staff present, results in a clear understanding among the nine justices of which party will prevail in a case. In the Alabama dispute, sources said, it was far from certain which side would win.
What happened next defied predictions from inside and outside the court. A series of negotiations, most notably between Chief Justice John Roberts and fellow conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh, transformed what many thought would be a ruling undercutting the Voting Rights Act into a forceful affirmation of the law.
Roberts and Kavanaugh enjoy a decades-old kinship and often confer privately on matters. Most internal debate takes place among all nine justices, whether in regular closed-door sessions or the circulation of memos. But Roberts regularly reaches out to Kavanaugh behind another set of closed doors to understand his views and, as happened here, to secure his vote.
Ambivalent during early internal debate, Kavanaugh eventually gave Roberts enough confidence that he could write an opinion for a majority.
Kavanaugh has since become the focus of Alabama officials who directly flouted the Supreme Court’s June decision and are now seeking another chance before the court.
[…]
Based on public statements and court filings from Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and Solicitor General Edmund LaCour, the state is counting on Kavanaugh to switch his vote or otherwise assist Alabama in its effort to keep a single Black-majority district.
They may believe they have an inside track behind the scenes, too, according to news reports on officials’ efforts to game out the justices for a second round. The Alabama Political Reporter, a daily news site, wrote in late July that “Republican lawmakers believe their DC connections have ‘intelligence’” that Kavanaugh “is open to rehearing the case on its merits.”
Speculation regarding how Kavanaugh would vote in the future may have little basis in fact. Moreover, the return of the dispute so quickly to the high court would likely give the majority, including Kavanaugh, pause for any reversal of sentiment regarding Voting Rights Act remedies for a state’s dilution of Black voting power.
The attention on Kavanaugh underscores his perceived judicial flexibility – and heightens interest in his vote when the merits of the case were heard last session.
Kavanaugh, appointed by former President Donald Trump in 2018, has demonstrated in some speeches that he prides himself in being conscious of how race permeates the justice system and American life.
In a July public appearance in Minnesota, shortly after the court session had ended, he emphasized his sensitivity on racial issues. Asked about significant cases he’d written over the past five years, he referred to two cases, playing up their racial dimensions. One case from 2020 (Ramos v. Louisiana), he explained, involved “the racist history” of non-unanimous juries, the other, from 2019 (Flowers v. Mississippi), impermissible race discrimination in jury selection.
“Racism has no place in the criminal justice system,” he said.
Kavanaugh has often invoked the fictional character of Atticus Finch, a small-town Alabama lawyer fighting a racist system in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” citing him on the importance of understanding the perspectives of others. Kavanaugh told a Notre Dame law school audience earlier this year, for example, that he keeps a grade-school copy of the book in court chambers.
“On the inside cover, in my handwriting from back then,” he said, “is written the phrase ‘Stand in someone else’s shoes.’ And that’s what (the English teacher) taught us was the lesson of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ And I think to be a good judge, and to be a good person, it’s important to understand other people’s perspectives.”
Uh huh… unless they’re women, of course.
Kavanaugh is a political animal but he’s an establishment guy like Roberts and they’re trying to balance the lunacy on the far right of the court. He also cares about his personal reputation so I suspect that his confirmation hearing still stings on some subliminal level. Good. Maybe he’ll spend his years on the court thinking about history remembering him for his grotesque performance before the Senate Judiciary Committee and he’ll at least try to correct that.
He’ll never be someone who really cares about people (he’s a Republican, after all) but if, unlike most of them, he still has a modicum of shame he might join with Roberts as a counter to the batshit crazies. I’m not optimistic but you never know.