When the Senate confirmed Brett Kavanaugh 50-48, it was a victory over American politics’ most vicious smear campaign in decades. Or was it? The left failed to keep Judge Kavanaugh off the Supreme Court, but it did irrevocable damage to his reputation and to America’s institutions—for which it has paid no price.

The left opposed Judge Kavanaugh from the start. Minutes after President Trump named him, leftist groups had dispatched protesters to the Supreme Court’s steps. Weeks later, activists flew into Washington, where they received training in how to disrupt the confirmation hearings and cash to pay bail. Hundreds were arrested even before Christine Blasey Ford’s claim of teenage sexual assault became public.

Democratic Judiciary Committee members flagrantly disregarded Senate rules and norms. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California circumvented the well-established confidential investigative process designed to protect accusers. Instead she sat on Ms. Ford’s allegations until it was clear that other means wouldn’t block Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation. More than a month earlier, Mrs. Feinstein had personally connected Ms. Ford to Debra Katz, a high-powered—and highly partisan—Washington lawyer. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey violated longstanding Senate rules by releasing confidential documents, then boasted: “This is about the closest I’ll probably ever have in my life to an ‘I am Spartacus’ moment.”

Sen. Kamala Harris of California baselessly insinuated that Judge Kavanaugh was hiding improper discussions about the Mueller investigation. Later, Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii was heard crowing to Ms. Harris about what a great idea it had been to have Ms. Ford wear a blue suit and ask for a Coca-Cola —staged parallels to Anita Hill’s teal suit and unproven 1991 claim that future Justice Clarence Thomas once made an untoward comment about a Coke can.

Journalists avidly joined the anti-Kavanaugh campaign. The Washington Post published the first interview with Ms. Ford, in which it obscured her shifting details about the number of boys and girls present on the night of the purported assault. The New Yorker ran a lengthy story on an allegation against Judge Kavanaugh that a Yale classmate offered “after six days of carefully assessing her memories and consulting with her attorney.”


NBC News sat for weeks on its own reporting that showed a supposed witness provided by attorney Michael Avenatti denied his account of her allegations. When two women angrily confronted then-Sen. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, in an elevator, CNN correspondents praised them uncritically without reporting that one was a professional activist.

There has been little accountability for all this dishonesty and unprofessionalism. The Judiciary Committee referred some false accusers to the Justice Department, but none have been prosecuted. The Senate hasn’t investigated the leak of Ms. Ford’s accusation. The Ethics Committee reviewed Mr. Booker’s violations of confidentiality and “determined that no further action is appropriate.”

The media’s malpractice no doubt has contributed to a general climate of distrust, but no one was fired or humiliated for throwing out journalistic standards. Instead, journalists gave each other awards for their one-sided coverage.

True, four Democratic senators who voted against Justice Kavanaugh were defeated last November. One of them, Missouri’s Claire McCaskill, said later that she’d been hurt by “the spectacle that occurred.” But those who orchestrated the spectacle remain in office, and Sen. Harris has emerged as a leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination.


If you think the Kavanaugh battle ended in victory, ask yourself what will happen if Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat becomes vacant. Is there any chance the left would treat a Trump nominee with an iota of decency or restraint?

Ms. Hemingway and Ms. Severino are co-authors of “Justice on Trial: The Kavanaugh Confirmation and the Future of the Supreme Court.”