Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Sunday warned that Republicans might have scored a short-term win with the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at the long-term expense of U.S. institutions.
“The whole process — look, it’s both sides,” the outgoing Republican governor and former presidential candidate said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “A pox on both houses for the way this was conducted. And people in the country are appalled. That’s because it’s like, I got to win, and you got to lose.”
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“Sometimes, you can have a short-term win, and the long term, you have to wonder about the soul of our country,” he added.
Kasich said it would have made sense for the White House to work with Democrats to select a conservative justice who would be acceptable “so what we don’t go through this.”
“And I would hope that the court will not become ideological,” he told host Dana Bash. “That would begin to erode confidence in the court. In fact, confidence in the court has already been eroded.”
Kavanaugh was confirmed Saturday by a vote of 50-48 after a bitter confirmation fight that focused particularly on allegations that he had committed sexual assault as a teenager.