Delaware Democratic Sen. Tom Carper, who admitted to hitting his wife in 1998, said on Friday that Brett Kavanaugh’s “temperament” is unacceptable for a Supreme Court justice.
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Sen. Carper of Delaware explained on the Senate floor that he will be voting “no” on Kavanaugh because of how angrily he reacted to the sexual assault allegations lobbed against him.
“Mr. President, it gives me no joy to say what I am about to say, but the temperament that Judge Kavanaugh exhibited in the Judiciary Committee last week was not — it wasn’t just unacceptable for a Supreme Court justice, it would be unacceptable for a judge in Delaware,” Carper said.
“After witnessing the vitriol that Judge Kavanaugh spewed, how can any left-leaning cause think they would ever possibly get a fair shake from him should their case come before the Supreme Court?” Carper continued. “His temperament was clearly unbecoming of a judge let alone a Supreme Court justice.”
Carper admitted that he hit his wife across the face during a 1998 interview with a journalist, despite denying the allegation while first running for Congress in 1982.
“Did I slap my wife 20 years ago? Yes,” Carper told reporter Celia Cohen. “Do I regret it? Yes. Would I do it again? No.”
The New York Post reported in 1982 that Carper hit his wife so hard that he gave her a black eye. Carper called the story “totally false.”