When did crying at Senate confirmation hearings become a thing? First Kavanagh did it. Now VanDyke. They teared up. They couldn’t speak. They cried. In front of the Senate committee, their family and the American people. They cried.
Put aside your feelings about Kav and/or VanDyke; this isn’t about them. Not even a little bit. Let’s call the judicial nominee Smith who, after being confronted with deeply awful accusations (whether real or not) cries before the TV cameras in the committee chamber.
There is an odd sensibility that men showing emotion is a good thing and worthy of being de-stigmatized. Why shouldn’t men cry? The image of the stoic male is now toxic. People reveal their frailties, their humanity, whether mental illness or alcoholism, for example, and tell their darkest personal secrets, and people gush their thoughts and prayers.
It’s almost as if not being a drug addict is a bad thing, as the empathetic can’t share in your personal failures. Oh wait, is drug addiction a failure? Not any more. It’s just another benign medical condition caused by your human desire to, say, shoot heroin into your veins. What normal person doesn’t do that?
But these are people who aspire to be judges. One of the criteria is temperament, which means the ability not to let emotions get in the way of the performance of the duties of the office. It doesn’t mean you don’t have feelings. Everyone does. It means you are strong enough to put your feelings aside. You may despise the individual before the court, but you’re still supposed to be able to rule without fear or favor, to be fair to that person no matter how much you may personally hate him. It’s a very hard thing to do, and why not everyone is cut out for the job.
But if you can’t control your emotions enough to make it through a confirmation hearing without crying, are you tough enough to be a judge?
Yes, the accusations made about you are deeply hurtful. They called you mean names, said bad things about you. Oh, the pain of it all. So what? People are going to say mean things about you every day when you’re on the bench. People will call you mean names and accuse you of doing bad things. Will you cry on the bench? Will you lose your shit and weep because you just can’t control yourself?
Judges are human. They may cry in private. They may cry at sad movies. They may cry when a loved one suffers. This isn’t to say that can’t cry. This is to say they need to possess the strength to not be overcome by emotion when they are on the bench or before the Senate committee. And if they can’t manage to not cry no matter how sad and hurt they feel, then they lack the toughness necessary to be a judge.
Or is crying before the Senate now fine?
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How can Judges cry knowing everyone in the courtroom will be laughing at all their jokes for as long as they wear the robe? Smiles always top cries.
Just saying.
You did Ozzy to make me cry, didn’t you?
Suits you right for posting about the latest sobfest.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XHaVmFKnK7w
Personal opinion.
A real man (as opposed to a woke soy boy) cries when a parent, child, or close family member dies. It is OK to cry when Taps is played at a funeral. It is also understood that you can cry if a beloved pet dies.
Other than those times, you keep a stiff upper lip and carry on.
When some mean ass twit at a confirmation hearing says bad things about you, you don’t cry, you go on the attack.
My question isn’t whether men can or should cry, but whether a person who wants to be a judge isn’t tough enough to withstand mean words at a confirmation hearing without crying. And note, I don’t believe any woman nominated for a judgeship has cried at her confirmation hearing. I fully hope that remains the case.
An acknowledgement that I didn’t take a look at what song Jim posted, and used the same song later in a reply to McLeod. My bad. Sorry, Jim. I suck. Rip me a new one. I deserve it.
Looks to me like they’re being put into a box. Attack them personally. If they show emotion (crying or anger) they’re obviously too emotional to be a judge. If they show Stoicism they’re obviously uncaring brutes and not fit to be judges. Respond with logic to the charges and they’re overly rational and missing the “milk of human kindness” and not fit to judge real humans. Respond with controlled rage and they’re unhinged and not fit to be a judge. It’s almost as if there’s something going on here.Jo
You may have significantly overplayed the hand here. Lawyers get personally attacked all the time. It might seem too painful to handle to someone who doesn’t face it regularly, but it’s just not a big deal to manage at all. And should you ever be represented by a lawyer who can’t easily handle a hard smack, get a different lawyer. Yours sucks.
1000% correct. A lawyer that can’t handle the abuse from other lawyers and can’t smack back shouldn’t be representing clients. It should be obvious to the dopiest that lawyer can’t be a judge.
Shades of Ed Muskie and the “Canuck letter.”
Remember, this guy is being considered for the 9th Circuit, not the district bench. Momentary emotional lapses in a life-tenured gig ensconced in the 9th Circuit are unlikely. Even if they were to occur, they would be tempered by a cadre of supporting clerks, and the fact that the judges there do everything important in groups of three or more. It’s ivory tower. He doesn’t need to be “tough” to circulate the opinions drafted by his clerks to the other panel members, and even the most fanatical ABA members arguing before the court won’t be allowed to personally attack judges on the panel. (That is undoubtedly why they chose to do it now). I don’t see this as a problem for his ability to function on the appellate court.
When faced with the ruin if your career, family, and all you hold dear…
This was more than mean things. This was threats of impeachment even if he was not put on supreme court, he lost his coaching spot, the regard of his friends, colleagues and neighbor’s, watched the pain of his wife and daughters – horrific
He cried. So what.
With that title, nobody took the bait?