Brett Kavanaugh is a threat beyond US borders

On paper, the nine member court's job is to decide whether laws follow the Constitution, but their decisions often transcend questions of legality and enter the realm of philosophy, and sometimes, what it means to be a human being.

But those decisions don't just play out on America's shores, they impact people all over the world.

Over the last two weeks, Kavanaugh has been accused by multiple women of sexual assault during his teenage years at Georgetown Preparatory School, and later at Yale University in the 1980s.

One woman, psychology professor and researcher Dr Christine Blasey-Ford, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that Kavanaugh attempted to rape her in high school when she was 15 and he was 17.

Two other women, Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick, have also publicly recounted their experiences of Kavanaugh behaving in abhorrent, criminal ways towards women, especially when alcohol was involved. Kavanaugh denies the charges, calling them a partisan smear, a retort that in and of itself casts doubt on his ability to serve for life as an "umpire" for the law, as he insists he would be on the bench.

The facts outlined above, however, are an insufficient summary of the last two weeks of American history.

Kavanaugh helped craft legal justifications for the torture of non-Americans

Here is the crux of the Kavanaugh question: Can a man so forcefully accused of treating women as second class human beings, as objects and not as minds, sit in judgement over the fate of billions of other people? Americans perhaps don't completely realise the power their government has over the whole world, and the responsibility they have as citizens over the fate of others.

These decisions are now in the hands of fewer people than would fit on a minibus between East Jerusalem and Hebron. All of them are wealthy, white Americans. That is the state of global inequality.

Aside from the accusations of drunkenness and assault Kavanaugh faces, there is also his history as a judge that should disturb the world.

In this role, and as a lawyer for the George W. Bush administration, Kavanaugh helped craft legal justifications for the torture of non-Americans, the denial of the reproductive rights of migrant teenagers and the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by Iraqis tortured at Abu Ghraib prison against a private military contractor.

To understand the stakes here, it's necessary to go back to the first round of Kavanaugh's hearing process, when Democratic senators questioned him on his overall view of the role of the president's power to make national security decisions.

The long and the short of it is: Kavanaugh's record shows he interprets the Constitution in a way that gives the president authority to carry out war as he sees fit, even if that means defying international humanitarian law or the will of Congress.

US President Donald Trump is the man who nominated Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court, and President Trump is also the man who, as a candidate for president, said: "I would bring back waterboarding, and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding."

Some Americans are watching Kavanaugh to find out whether women's reproductive rights will survive the 21st century. Others are literally praying he'll get on the court and help overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that found a woman's right to privacy meant the government could not intrude on her relationship with her doctor.

The decline of American democracy, and the rise of American authoritarianism under Trump won't just bring pain to Americans

Even if Kavanaugh and the other conservative justices don't manage to overturn Roe explicitly, it's likely they will rule in favour of state decisions that make it harder to get an abortion, making the US a more dangerous place to be a woman.

But the people and governments the world over should be worried about Kavanaugh, too. His view of the role of the presidency comes at a time when wealthy allies of the administration, such as Peter Thiel, have said they don't believe "freedom and democracy" are compatible.

He has the potential to interpret the constitution in ways that turn the president's role into that of a monarch.

There is a temptation to gloat about the chaos in America under Trump, to think that this kind of constant national crisis is a just reward for decades of imperialistic trampling over other countries. Maybe, in some cosmic sense, that's right. But the decline of American democracy, and the rise of American authoritarianism under Trump won't just bring pain to Americans, it threatens billions of people around the world, too.