Textualism and The Exegesis of the 1982 Georgetown Preparatory School Yearbook
My understanding is that Bret Kavanaugh presents himself as a textualist, following Antonin Scalia he argues that words in the constitition and laws should be interpreted using their conventional meanings when they were written. This is in contrast to the different approach based on considering legislative history (which is impossible for the main body of the Constitution because the procedings of the Convention were secret). It is in very marked contrast to the approach based on following precedent and deferring to the interpretation made by other judges in the past. This third “living constitution” approach makes statute law like common law mainly a body of precedents. Notably over here (in Rome) no one argues for the third approach. It is a truism that “giurisprudenza non è legge” (jurisprudence is not law I translate un-necessarily since English legal terms come from right here in Rome (unlike the English legal tradition)).
Although not a lawyer, I felt the need to present pretentious introduction so that I might address the question “have I boofed yet”. Don’t worry, I have absolutely no intention whatsoever to answer this question, but I hope you are not shocked to read my confession that, at an earlier period in my life, I have, in fact, farted.
Addressing the Senate Judiciary Committee eminent judge Bart Kavanaugh argued that the slang term “boofed” which he wrote on his page of the 1982 Georgetown Prep yearbook should be interpreted as meaning “farted”. I see that he has no respect for or loyalty too textualism.
First an actual textualist would consider context. The slang term appears in the printed passage (among the oldest surviving exemplars of Judge Kavanaugh’s opus) “Judge, have you boofed yet?” Judge Kavanaugh asserts that he was publicly asking a close friend if he had, as of then, at any time in his life, farted. The word “boofed” alone doesn’t clearly refer to something other than farting. The additional (highly ironic) proper name “Judge” and the words “have”, “you” and “yet” provide enough context to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Judge Kavanaugh is a perjurer, criminal, and felon.
But a textualist considers more than the context within the document undergoing learned exegesis. It is necessary to inquire as to how the word was used by contemporaries of the author. Kavanaugh must explore, and must ask the eminent Senators to explore, 35 year old discussions of anal sex by teenagers to be true to his stated principles.
Or he could just admit that when he was 17 he publicly asked a friend if that friend had fucked a butt yet.
An embarrassing youthful indiscretion is not a felony. But Kavanaugh chose to lie, because that’s what he does.
Off topic:
I have been asked to talk or lecture on supply chain from time to time at a university I attended several decades ago. It is a topic, I am well known for talking about and teaching in business environments. Having dinner with a former prof. about things in general, we talked about Italy, migration in the US, and the impact of it in Italy. This is a Jesuit University. In the end, it was suggested with increased migration to Italy, the migration to Italy from Africa would bring about an end to the Catholic religion. What are your thoughts?
I think the Catholic Church doesn’t need any help in the regard; it is doing a pretty good job on its own.
Hi Jack:
Robert is in Italy as a Prof. I was curious as to what he sees in Italy and what Italians are thinking.
In town again. Did my first lecture/talk this last Wednesday for a 4th year Undergrad International Econ. class. Freebie with a dinner and catching up with my former Econ Prof. afterwards. Met with the head of the program Thursday. Next up is another Executive Director for the Executive Program.
I will probably be moving back to Chicago in 1-2 years. My oldest son and I have a plan which makes sense.
I would agree that “boofed” refers to anal sex. And there are lots of telltale signs that Kavanaugh might have been struggling with his sexual identity. For example, many of his female acquaintances have said that he was very passive with them in most social settings.
Second, one of his female Yale friends remarked that Kavanaugh drank excessively and it seemed like he did so more to impress the boys than the girls.
Third, he seemed unusually insistent on talking about things that would prove his manliness; e.g., his repeated references to sports and weight lifting.
Fourth, the possible ersatz homosexual attraction between Kavanaugh and Judge might explain the “horseplay” and repeated jumping onto one another during the assault.
Fifth, the bizarre need to model himself after his father suggests some kind of identity crisis.
All of this suggests that Kavanaugh might be quite sincere in his belief that he was not sexually assaulting Dr. Ford. I can see where in his mind he might have viewed the ersatz sexual component as being the horseplay with Judge, not Dr. Ford. And all of this might explain his apparently belligerent behavior towards women when he was drunk and very passive behavior when he was sober. It could also explain his extended virginity. Watching Kavanaugh’s wife during the hearing I got the sense that she might also suspect Kavanaugh’s conflicted sexuality. She seemed to pity him as much as love him. We’ve all known people with similar issues growing up. I could go on, but I think there are plenty of clues about Kavanaugh hiding in plain sight.
2slugs:
It has been a while since I have seen you around these parts. I did take the liberty to edit your comment. It is a good comment. Welcome to AB and hang around if you like. As usual first comments go to moderation to weed out spammers and advertising.
Run, let me know when you move.
2slug covers a lot but let’s add how Kavanaugh kept saying “I like beer”. Was his testimony sponsored by Budweiser?
Does anyone have any doubt whatsoever that Kavanaugh lied during his testimony? I could certainly consider forgiving alcohol fueled youthful sexual aggression, but not predatory activity ala Avenatti’s client’s allegations. I can not forgive lies of a 53 year old man and the obvious lack of contrition if his “horseplay” traumatized young girls. His attempt to distract from the issue at hand by arguing this is partisan politics, while Trumpian, should also be disqualifying. The US Senate should not be Trump’s base, but the issue is still open. The Democrats May be playing politics but the GOP has abandoned all pretense of representing the best interests of the United States and the Constitution.
pgl, Promoting Budweiser should be disqualifying on its own. I wouldn’t even drink that rice water crap when I was in college. I grew up in the Chicago area, so I was always an Old Style (or as we called in, Old Stool) and Meister Brau kind of guy. And as a Cubs fan there’s no way I could support a beer that is associated with the Cardinals.
Terry, It’s pretty clear to me that Kavanaugh made two obvious lies without a shadow of a doubt. He plainly lied about his drinking. Not only have several of his friends confirmed that he drank to excess quite often, but his face (literally the blotchy red on his face) showed that he was lying. And he clearly lied about the meaning of the words on his calendar. Every teenager and twentysomething in the early 1980s understood what “Boofing” meant. You had to have been living on the planet Triskelion not to understand what it meant. I can (just barely) accept that he truly believes he didn’t sexually assault Dr. Ford. His body language during that part of his testimony was different from when he was obviously lying about booze and boofing. He may not remember it for lots of reasons. I suspect he was confused (and perhaps in denial) about his sexuality at the time. At least for me that explanation best fits the constellation of known facts around Kavanaugh’s life at that time. In any event, he has no business being on the Court.
Matt Damon Is A Sniffing, Shouting Brett Kavanaugh On ‘SNL’ Season Premiere
https://www.npr.org/2018/09/30/653062763/matt-damon-is-a-sniffing-shouting-brett-kavanaugh-on-snl-season-premiere
13 minutes long and worth every second!
Been off the grid a few days in the wilds of New England……
Listened to NPR playing Democrats imitating the Pharisees against Kavanaugh.
I think Kavanaugh was making a statement when he asked the female democrat if she had ever had episodes where she lost her recall.
The question being an assault on decorum!
My money goes against any one or issue of the democrat regime.
ilsm:
That would be Jeopardy where the host makes a statement and the contestant comes back with the question.
Run,
The producers of Jeopardy may assert you slander them……..
comparing it to the circus’ monkey cage that is congress.
2slugbats. I don’t see that as being much evidence that he is some sort of latent homosexual. Certainly Ford’s testimony did seem to indicate that he and judge were more interested their camaraderie than in their sexual assault on her. But then sports teams and single sex schools both inculcate a strong “Bros before hos” attitude. Combine that with the common Madonna/Whore complex and we can explain how we can have accounts both of him being both shy and aggressive. He tended to be shy when sober and he was hanging out with women that he deemed worthy of respect and an aggressive asshole when drunk and hanging around women that he did not. I don’t think that he is a homosexual, but I do think that at least when he was young, for him many women weren’t really people. Judging by how he behaved when questioned by the female senators, he still does not extend many women the respect that he does to men.
I find it interesting that he seemed to at least feign being contrite when talking about the Renate reference even as he was obviously lying about it. At least in that case he seems to feel some shame at how they treated her even as he does not admit the way that they atempted to bond over the act of humiliating her. OTOH his demeanor when he said “I bear no ill will against Dr Ford and her family,” made it sound like a meaningless phrase he was mouthing to not look like an asshole.