Kavanaugh nomination faces turmoil
GOP senators want to look into sex assault claim against Supreme Court hopeful after his accuser emerges.
WASHINGTON — Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court faced a potentially damaging delay Sunday after a woman who has accused him of sexually assaulting her when they were in high school publicly identified herself.
At least two Republican senators said they wanted the allegation to be more thoroughly investigated before voting on Kavanaugh’s nomination — a significant setback for the Republican strategy of pushing President Trump’s choice for the high court rapidly forward.
The decision by the accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, a psychologist and professor at Palo Alto University, to step forward sharply changed the dynamics of the nomination. It set the stage for what could be a deeply bruising partisan battle, coming less than two months before the midterm election in which Republicans already fear they may suffer heavy losses, to a large extent because of opposition from female voters.
Kavanaugh has denied the allegations, which came to public light last week.
Ford initially made her allegation in a letter delivered in July to Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. At the time, however, she insisted that she did not want to be identified.
Feinstein did not tell other committee Democrats about the allegation until last week. She said she withheld the information out of respect for Ford’s desire to remain anonymous. Late last week, when the existence of the letter became public, Feinstein said she had referred it to the FBI.
On Sunday, Feinstein, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer and other Democratic senators quickly called for the judiciary panel’s vote to be set aside and for the FBI to investigate the allegations.
A few hours later, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), an influential member of the Judiciary Committee, issued a statement saying he was
open to hearing directly from Ford and would “gladly listen to what she has to say.”
Graham said any testimony to the committee would have to take place “immediately so the process can continue as scheduled.”
Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), also a member of the committee, told several news organizations that he thought the committee needed to hear from Ford before it could vote on the nomination. Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, like Flake a prominent Republican critic of Trump who is retiring after this year, also called for a delay.
The Judiciary Committee chairman, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), appeared determined — at least for now — to stick with the schedule and hold the vote Thursday. His spokesman, Taylor Foy, said Grassley was trying to set up “follow-up calls” in which committee staff could question Kavanaugh and Ford, describing that as routine practice when “updates are made to nominees’ background files.”
Republicans hold 51 seats in the Senate. Of them, all but Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have said they planned to vote for Kavanaugh. All but three of the 49 senators in the Democratic caucus have said they will vote against Kavanaugh.
If Flake, Corker or others insist they won’t vote without a further hearing on Ford’s accusation, Kavanaugh almost surely would not have the votes for immediate confirmation.
Collins and Murkowski had already been under heavy pressure from supporters of Roe vs. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide. Supporters of the decision fear Kavanaugh would seek to erode abortion rights.
Republicans could reopen the hearings to fully air Ford’s allegation. The risk for Kavanaugh and his supporters, however, is that a full hearing would at the very least delay the fasttrack schedule that Republicans have adopted with an eye toward getting Kavanaugh confirmed before the midterm election. A hearing could be far more damaging if the public finds Ford’s accusations credible and relevant.
The developments threw into disarray Kavanaugh’s nomination, which could, if he’s confirmed, place Trump’s stamp on the nation’s highest court for a generation, after the ascent of Justice Neil M. Gorsuch last year.
The White House declined to make any new statement in response to Ford’s allegation, referring reporters to the statement put out by committee Republicans.
Kavanaugh, 53, issued a brief statement last week when the allegations came to light, without the accuser’s name attached.
“I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any time,” he said.
The dispute now creates a dilemma for the GOP leadership as well as Republicans facing election challenges in November. GOP loyalists will be loath to break with Trump on such a high-profile nomination, but are uneasily mindful of a changing political climate on matters of sexual misconduct.
With the #MeToo movement that has emerged over the last two years, allegations of misconduct, some of which fell far short of the kind of assault Ford has alleged, have derailed the careers of powerful men in Hollywood and in politics.
Notably, though, Trump himself has survived repeated accounts of sexual misbehavior, including the detailing by his former lawyer Michael Cohen of a hushmoney payment to pornographic actress Stormy Daniels, and accusations of sexual misconduct from more than a dozen other women, some dating back decades.
Even the “Access Hollywood” tape, with its captured audio of Trump making a profane reference to grabbing women by the genitals without their consent, did not prevent him from winning the 2016 election.
Feinstein, in her statement, said that “from the outset, I have believed these allegations were extremely serious and bear heavily on Judge Kavanaugh’s character.”
“I support Mrs. Ford’s decision to share her story, and now that she has, it is in the hands of the FBI to conduct an investigation. This should happen before the Senate moves forward on this nominee,” Feinstein said.
In response to Ford’s coming forward, Schumer called on Grassley to put off the vote at least until the allegations, which he described as “serious and credible,” were investigated.
“For too long, when woman have made serious allegations of abuse, they have been ignored. That cannot happen in this case,” the New York Democrat said.
“Judge Kavanaugh’s credibility has already been seriously questioned ... and now his credibility is even more suspect,” Schumer said. “To railroad a vote now would be an insult to the women of America and the integrity of the Supreme Court.”
Republicans on the Judiciary Committee said the timing of the allegation was suspicious.
Foy, Grassley’s spokesman, said Sunday that it was “disturbing that these uncorroborated allegations from more than 35 years ago” would be put forward with the vote only days away.
“It raises a lot of questions about Democrats’ tactics and motives,” the statement said.
Among the Democrats joining in calls for a delay was Sen. Kamala Harris of California, who during confirmation hearings emerged as one of Kavanaugh’s most stringent questioners.
“Christine Blasey Ford courageously stepped forward to tell her story — it is a credible and serious allegation,” Harris tweeted. “A vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination must be delayed until there is a thorough investigation.”
Another notable Democrat urging that the vote be put off was Doug Jones, the Alabama Democrat whose special election win over Roy Moore marked another pivotal moment in the #MeToo saga. Moore was accused of sexually pursuing teenage girls while he was a prosecutor in his 30s.
“This was a very brave step to come forward,” Jones wrote on Twitter. “It is more important than ever to hit the pause button on Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote until we can fully investigate these serious and disturbing allegations.”
Jones added: “We cannot rush to move forward under this cloud.”