The senator’s famous cry of rage speaks not only to his cruelty, but also to the larger role he played in changing the court.
Senator Lindsey Graham speaks during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh.(Michael Reynolds—Pool/Getty Images) South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham died over the weekend. I imagine most people will remember him like the guy who was always ready to put the finishing touches on Donald Trump’s boots. But for me, the image of him shouting, gesticulating and spitting in defense of an alleged attempted rape is one that will always remain indelible in my hippocampus.
On the morning of September 27, 2018, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee around the time Brett Kavanaugh, then-nominee for the United States Supreme Court, was attempting to rape her. Ford was courageous, convincing and, above all, credible.
Republicans on the Judiciary Committee did not question Ford. They didn’t have the courage to tell a survivor of an attempted assault that she was lying to their face. Instead, Republicans turned their questioning time over to a veteran Arizona prosecutor, Rachel Mitchell, who tried to poke holes in Ford’s story. But Mitchell was largely ineffective. Ford, although speaking meekly, never hesitated. She was consistent about what she remembered, who she told it to and what Kavanaugh did to her. Asked about her strongest memory of the event, Ford said: “The laughter is indelible in the hippocampus. The loud laughter between the two [Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge]and they have fun at my expense.
By the time Ford had finished his testimony, Kavanaugh’s nomination seemed done. Most people watching believed Ford.
In the afternoon, Kavanaugh was brought back before the committee to respond. His dramatic speeches during his opening statement are now famous. He declaimed; he raved; he cried. He professed a love of beer and promised that his enemies would “reap the whirlwind” if they questioned him. Kavanaugh’s statement was so unhinged and so unbecoming of a future Supreme Court justice that it would have gone down in history as the last breath of a drowning man without a single person: Lindsey Graham.
You see, to justify their cowardice, the Republicans planned to let Mitchell question Ford and Kavanaugh. Republican Speaker Charles Grassley allowed him to question Kavanaugh during his term, but when Graham’s turn came next, he refused to let Mitchell continue his questioning (which didn’t help Kavanaugh at all). Instead, he stepped in, got rid of Mitchell and unleashed a tirade. He shouted; he spat; he acted as if Brett Kavanaugh had been a victim of the entire process.
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Graham asked Kavanaugh if he was a “gang rapist” (as if that’s what Kavanaugh had been accused of). He accused Democrats of making Kavanaugh look like “Bill Cosby” because they “want power.” And he threatened his fellow Republican, saying: “To my fellow Republicans, if you vote no, you are legitimizing the most despicable thing I have seen since I have been in politics. »
It is important to note that Graham never questioned Ford’s story or its credibility. The Republican theory then (and I guess now, even though they tried to forget the incident) is that Ford was telling the truth…she just misidentified her attacker. Someone tried to rape Ford in high school, but not Brett Kavanaugh. Somehow, the only thing Ford didn’t remember was who tried to rape her, Republicans say.
Graham’s vitriol turned the tide of the nomination. Republicans had found no evidence exonerating Kavanaugh (other than his high school calendar, where Kavanaugh did not note “trying to rape someone tonight”) nor any evidence that Ford was lying. But they were angry. And Graham showed them that being upset was reason enough to green-light the nomination. They all lined up: Mitt Romney, Jeff Flake, Susan Collins. People who you would think would be appalled by an attempted rape simply turned around in the face of the spit and tears of two very angry white men.
Graham knew he was the key to Kavanaugh’s confirmation and he was proud of it. For years, Graham’s Twitter profile was a photo of him with his arms wrapped around Kavanaugh.
Graham’s role in the Republican Party’s Supreme Court judicial machine is one of the most important parts of his political legacy, but it is often overlooked. In addition to his lead role in the Kavanaugh tragedy, Graham was primarily responsible for the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett during his sole term as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Barrett was confirmed on October 26, 2020. Trump lost the presidential election a week later. One of the reasons people don’t remember this outrage is Graham’s smooth and efficient handling of the process.
Graham also played a key role in the unconfirmation of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. This was in 2016, before Graham turned to Trumpism, when he was most closely associated with Senator John McCain. Most people only remember Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s role in defeating Garland’s nomination by refusing to allow Garland to sit for a confirmation hearing. But McConnell was not on the Judiciary Committee. Graham was. If Graham (and, by extension, McCain) had opposed McConnell, the entire obstruction plan would have collapsed.
And it was not unreasonable, at the time, to think that Graham could have done it. For years, Graham exploited his image as a “bipartisan” senator, and much of that credibility came from his decision to vote for the confirmation of Democrats Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court (a fact he liked to remind people, although his willingness to engage across the aisle disappeared when Joe Biden nominated a black woman to the Supreme Court). There were only two people in Washington who could have ended McConnell’s blockade simply by saying Garland was entitled to a hearing: Graham and Chief Justice John Roberts. (Although Roberts had no real power over the nomination, a decision to speak out would likely have shifted public opinion and media discourse against McConnell’s obstructionism.)
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Both men failed at the time. Graham carried out McConnell’s orders, while Roberts kept his mouth shut, and the Supreme Court was never the same.
Indeed, Graham’s refusal to give Garland an audience is what made his late-career villain not surprise me at all. The most important things to Graham were power and the projection of power. Once Trump had him, Graham was still going to fall in line. He was always a moon to someone else’s sun: incapable of generating heat on his own, but happy to pass himself off as a bright star in the sky if someone else lent him a little light.
His public career would have been harmless, even comical, if it were simply about his endless escapades trying to sneak up the ass of a stronger politician. The driver of the car always needs someone sitting in the back ready to get out and buy a pack of cigarettes.
But Graham’s career was not trivial, for he was also vicious. He was a warmonger who played an encouraging role in every death caused by American bombs over the past 20 years. And, as he showed during the Kavanaugh hearings, his main advisor to his Republican colleagues was always to scream and yell until they got what they wanted.
When I think of Graham, I think of a weak child who suddenly becomes emboldened when he finds his father’s handgun. He had no real power of his own, but he knew how to use the power of others to its most brutal and devastating effect.
Lindsey Graham wasn’t the worst Republican. He was just the worst version of himself.
Elie Mystal Elie Mystal is The nationjustice correspondent and columnist. He is also an Alfred Knobler Fellow at the Type Media Center. He is the author of two books: New York Times bestseller Let me respond: A Guide to the Constitution for Black Men And Bad Laws: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining Americaboth published by The New Press. You can subscribe to his Nation newsletter Elijah v. UNITED STATES here.
