“A spirit of hatred born on a dark wind.” This is how J.R.R. Tolkien describes Sauron, the evil Dark Lord in his masterpiece The Lord of the Rings. Sauron is not just a physical body but a spirit, and one that can reform itself after being vanquished. The Silmarillion describes how Sauron’s spirit fled to Mordor after his body was destroyed. Sauron “dwelt there, dark and silent, until he wrought himself a new guise.”

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) is the Sauron not of Middle Earth but of America, and he is also trying to reform himself after being vanquished. Last week Whitehouse issued a report that alleges the investigation six years ago into allegations of sexual assault by then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was “flawed and incomplete.” Whitehouse criticized the FBI for not “following up” on thousands of tips it received, and instead passing them along to the White House. “The supplemental background investigation was flawed and incomplete, as the FBI did not follow up on numerous leads that could have produced potentially corroborating or otherwise relevant information,” the report said.

 Sauron, it seems, is trying to reemerge.