Armchair analysis

The announcement is out: the Judicial and Bar Council is again accepting nominations for the position of Supreme Court chief justice.

Having ceremoniously (albeit "unprecedentedly") dispatched the first woman chief justice in the person of Maria Lourdes Sereno, the Supreme Court quickly saw a replacement that was de Castro, who is in turn due to retire this October 8 (that soon!). So another round of searching and probing is set to begin, and we will have another circus on our hands

Meanwhile, I am transfixed by the confirmation hearings for a similar post half a world away. Applicant Brett Kavanaugh is being grilled by the US Senate as his nomination for Justice of the American Supreme Court hangs in the balance. Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who stood up to be heard, has galvanized women all over in their support of a fellow survivor.

I'm waiting with bated breath as to what the two female Republican senators (Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski) will do. Their votes will end the chances of a man who looked like he had all the credentials. Prep school, Yale Law degree, an unblemished career in the judiciary, this guy has the perfect ingredients for a Supreme Court justice. Add the superficial but powerful fact that he's white, and there you have it. A shoo-in.

But not quite there yet, what with three accusers having come out to accuse him of sexual assault. As female senator Amy Klobuchar succinctly analyzed it, it's no longer a case of "he said, she said." It's now "he said, they said." Maybe one accuser would merit a dismissive stance from the Kavanaugh loyalists, but three?

The suspense is stretched out over another week, as the Senate will refer the accusations (hopefully, of all three women) to a limited FBI investigation. In the light of the Senate conditions, even the Donald was forced to agree to activate the FBI. So it will be a week before any movement will come out of this nerve-wracking controversy.

If the FBI cannot come up with anything, no findings to verify the truth of the women's accusations, then the Republican senators who are holding out, even the women, may be unable to withhold their votes in favor of Kavanaugh. Even if they secretly want to veto his nomination, they won't have the FBI reputation and expertise to shield them from criticism within their party or their rabid supporters.

So these female senators will have to be spectacularly confident in their political base or truly convinced by Dr. Ford's "compelling" testimony (not my word, but Fox News') in order to break ranks and vote "nay" to K.

This level of scrutiny is what we need for our next chief justice. Not just our Supreme Court actually, but for all those who seek high government posts. Where lives and jobs (the fate of our country, practically), are entrusted to their hands, their hands better be clean and capable. It doesn't do to just accept nominees whose only qualifications are excellent government connections or amazing self-belief.

We need a selection process that is rigorous, untainted by politicking or fuelled by self-interest. We need in-depth research, seriously probing the motives and capabilities of candidates, and recommendatory only of those who can truly serve.

Who will be the next Supreme Court chief justice? Hopefully, someone who will lead the court, already embattled and rocked with controversy, into a future even more glorious than what it has demonstrated over the years. Otherwise, we're screwed.