Republican Senate leaders, who refused to consider then-President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland under the pretext that it was necessary to honor the will of the people in the 2016 election, continue to press for the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh, who was nominated to the Supreme Court by a president whose lack of fitness for office can no longer be ignored.

There are valid questions of Kavanaugh’s own suitability for a lifetime appointment to our highest court. The Senate is neither permitted access to, nor time for, a full review of his record. Evidence grows that Kavanaugh has not been forthcoming in these hearings and was deceptive in his previous hearings for confirmation to the U.S. Court of Appeals.

Further, the Senate must weigh President Trump’s motivations in this nomination – the nomination from a president who ceaselessly displays an absolute emptiness of morality, who portrays no vision of service other than to himself, or of sacrifice other than the sacrifices of ethics and integrity that he demands of others. The Senate must consider the likelihood that the president intends to place a jurist who, while acting out of principle, could influence decisions isolating this president from the consequences of misfeasance.

Donald Trump has led us into unprecedented times. It is not business as usual, and I believe that now is the time for Congress to stop providing cover for a president who is clearly uninformed, impulsive and unheeding of experience or perspective. This calls for a courage of action, beyond occasional expressions of displeasure and disagreement.

Sen. Susan Collins should not vote to further the self-serving machinations of this president or support the illusions of normalcy constructed around him. Sen. Collins must not yield to those pressures; she must not vote to confirm the questionable nomination of Brett Kavanaugh.

Omar Bradley Beukema

Rockland

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