Christine Blasey Ford is scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee this Thursday regarding an alleged incident of sexual assault that occurred 35 years ago.
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh denied the allegation in no uncertain terms.
“I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation,” Kavanaugh said in a statement released by the White House. “I did not do this back in high school or at any time.”
And now there’s a second allegation, according to a Sunday night article written by Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer of the New Yorker, where Debbie Reynolds, a classmate of Kavanaugh’s at Yale, describes in disturbing detail about how the Supreme Court nominee sexually assaulted her.
Up until now, Republican members of the Judiciary Committee have been eager to speed along the confirmation process before the allegations have even had a chance to be examined. That can not be allowed to happen.
Many parallels have been drawn between this confirmation process and that of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in 1991, when attorney Anita Hill described the near constant sexual harassment she faced from Thomas while she worked under him.
These cases do have their differences — one involves sexual assault, the other sexual harassment. Despite this difference, the result appears likely to be the same. Members of the committee will create enough distrust of the victim’s testimony before the victim is even given a chance to speak.
Whether or not Blasey Ford is telling the truth (which we have no reason to doubt she is), certain members of the committee have made it abundantly clear that they have no real interest in listening to her.
For example, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chair of the Judiciary Committee, may have granted Blasey Ford an extension to decide if she wants to testify, but has made it no secret his displeasure, tweeting that he “(feels) like I’m playing 2nd trombone in the judiciary orchestra and (Chuck) Schumer is the conductor.”
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said that he will confirm Kavanaugh “unless there's something more, no, I'm not going to ruin Judge Kavanaugh's life over this.”
These men completely ignore the reality that Blasey Ford came forward, thereby making her personal life an open book for the public eye.
Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), one of only three women on the 21 members of the committee, tweeted Sunday night that, “Thursday’s hearing should be cancelled in light of a disturbing new allegation of sexual misconduct against Brett Kavanaugh.”
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
If the Senate Judiciary Committee wants to give Blasey Ford the fair hearing it says it’ll give her, it’ll shoulddo just that — postpone the hearing and let the FBI investigate.
It’s what Christine Blasey Ford deserves. It’s what Debbie Reynolds deserves. It’s what the American people deserve.
Kyle Land is the editor-in-chief for the Daily Lobo. The opinions expressed in the column are his own and do not reflect that of the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at editorinchief@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @kyleoftheland.
