Several Democratic senators already have said that they will oppose Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court seat that Justice Anthony Kennedy is vacating (here are statements from Richard Blumenthal, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, Chuck Schumer, and Ron Wyden). This strikes me as a grave mistake — normatively and strategically. Kudos to Democrats — including Sherrod Brown, Joe Donnelly, Heidi Heitkamp, and Joe Manchin — who have resisted the rush to judgment.

Brett Kavanaugh is a conservative. That should not be disqualifying. Republican presidents generally will nominate conservatives to the Court, and Democratic presidents generally will nominate liberals. Senators of the opposite party should insist upon well-qualified nominees who fall within the mainstream of American legal thought — not extreme ideologues. Judge Kavanaugh is well qualified by any measure, and his views are much closer to the center than those of many of his former and current Republican-appointed colleagues on the D.C. Circuit.

By this standard, of course, the Senate ought to have confirmed Merrick Garland in 2016. But (also of course) two wrongs do not make a right. Perhaps Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s refusal to allow a vote on Garland gave Democratic senators a reason to oppose Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the seat that Garland should have filled. But that is not the seat that Kavanaugh will be filling. The Kennedy vacancy is Trump’s to fill because we lost an election — square if not fair — maybe because of James Comey but mostly because we chose a candidate who repelled a large portion of the electorate. We can’t blame Mitch McConnell for that.

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