Like Thomas before him, Kavanaugh will now have no choice but to seek the embrace of the far right, which stood by him in his hour of need. Liberals won’t forget the sexual misconduct allegations against him – probably not ever.

Part of the appeal of being a Supreme Court moderate is that while one side may be frustrated with you after any given decision, you receive positive feedback from the other. But, in the short term at least, there can no prospect of positive feedback from liberals, no matter how Kavanaugh votes. He could start voting like Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and liberals would still see him as a sex offender who got onto the court by deceit. He thus will have no psychological incentive to do anything other than vote with the conservatives.

Nor will liberals be able to court him, as they did Kennedy.