Brett Kavanaugh - Lessons That Can Be Learned

"The Most Hated Justice on the Supreme Court"

That is the headline this morning in Bloomberg. The justice "owning" that status is Brett Kavanaugh. Potentially, he’s lucky because he can leverage that negative attention into unique influence on conservative issues. That is, if he learns to master the art and science of engagement. 

So far he's missed the boat on that. For instance, he hadn't transformed the personal attacks on him, ranging from at his home to at a restaurant, into platforms for advocating positions on legal, political, and social points of view. Because of those events the nation was at full attention to Everything Kavanaugh. He could have put together a message inviting empathy for being persecuted for a belief system. Who hasn’t been bullied in that kind of context?

In the process of learning to make use of the media attention coming his way, Kavanaugh might be able to reduce the antipathy against him, According to the Marquette University Law School poll he has only a 27% favorable rating. 

The Netflix film "Comey Rule" about former FBI Director James Comey brings home how nothing and no one can be apolitical. In his purist struggle to be apolitical, which got him fired by President Donald Trump, Comey gets caught up in political hell.

Among others featured in "Comey Rules" as not allegedly beyond the reach of politics is former US Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Currently a partner at prestigious law firm Paul Weiss she had been perceived as too "close" to the Clintons. Her meeting on the Phoenix airport tarmac with former president Bill Clinton, when wife Hillary's email use was being investigated, could be interpreted as throwing shade on her personal brand - and that of government service. At the time that had been a major controversy.

But Lynch survived and has put together a new high-profile brand in private practice. Among the litigation she is involved in is the racial bias case "Brian Flores, et al. v NFL, et al." In addition, she is heading the audit at Amazon of racial policies. She had delivered the commencement address at Harvard Law School.

One wonders this: Can Comey also can transcend the past?

Given that 2020 outing in the Netflix film on how the branches of government operate Kavanaugh should be fully aware of his splendid opportunity to move the dial for SCOTUS in its relationship to the constituencies. Those range from the media to Main Street. 

The three liberals on SCOTUS might not have that pull force or the potential impact to neutralize the growing popularity of conservatism. Justice Sonia Sotomayor seems to be trying to become the voice of legal progressive thought. But as we know in my profession of communications that requires a necessary combination of charisma, salesmanship, ability to engage, willingness to compromise, and exactly the right timing. Sotomayor doesn't seem to fill the specs. She seems to be too assured of the rightness of her legal stances to be effective in pitching and establishing common ground. Comey had been equally assured.

Actually there seems to be a scarcity of progressive voices which do have reach. Currently conservatives have the lock on changing minds and hearts.

However, the head of Paul Weiss Brad Karp is among the progressive lawyers who could disrupt those hardened distribution channels for conservative messaging. As coverage in Bloomberg Law details, Karp has access to the decision-makers in the Biden Administration. Unlike Comey and others destroyed by politics, he seems to have an intuitive feel for how to put in play change. In the PIVOT podcast hosted by Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway, Karp had been singled out as a ”change agent.”

This is at a time, though, when too many progressive lawyers are hedging in the courts of public opinion. The abortion fallout seems to be making them quite cautious. Kavanaugh could take advantage of that. But so can the atypical such as Karp. It’s a matter of sizing up the messaging opportunities and pouncing. 

Meanwhile, Kavanaugh might be able to add to his menu of skills by making himself available to the ancient lessons available in the Tarot. That has gone establishment. Back in April 2021, The New York Times endorsed Tarot readings, including DIY, as tools for transcending the limits of traditional ways of experiencing the world. 

(Entertainment purposes only. One-card career reading for $30. Payment by PayPal or Zelle. Please schedule appointment with Jane Your Tarot Reader at janegenova374@gmail.com or text 203-468-8579.)