Kavanaugh, Ford and Old Times
Brett Kavanaugh is now an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Even if Kavanaugh were impeachable based on his political bias or personal history, it would not be appropriate to do so as all such information was available at the time of his confirmation.
The confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh speaks loudly and powerfully on the challenges facing women who feel a duty to report sex crimes committed by men in general and by powerful men especially.
Christine Blasey Ford is an accomplished and intelligent professional. Her testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee about (an alleged) sexual assault committed by Kavanaugh when they were both high school students was compelling, sincere, factually consistent and not provably false. Republican leaders and even President Trump honored the sincerity of her testimony. Brett Kavanaugh also testified in his own defense about the accusations by Ford. Kavanaugh’s testimony was compelling, sincere, factually consistent and not provably false.
Now that the Senate testimony of Kavanaugh and Ford have been heard and an FBI investigation completed, the fallout is telling. Kavanaugh is confirmed to a seat on the Supreme Court and the Republican leadership and the party in general say Ford was sincere and believable, that she was very likely a victim of sexual assault (explaining her compelling testimony) – but she very probably and for unknowable reasons got the identity of her attacker wrong.
Condescending? Definitely. Further, the party line is that Democrats somehow found this distraught individual and propelled her into action to fight Kavanaugh’s appointment. Further still, the Republican Party has labeled the Ford story a hoax – not sure how to align that with Ford’s compelling and sincere testimony, but that’s the story. What was the FBI doing when they cut their investigation short? Maybe a 30-year-old cold case could go fast – but a currently ongoing hoax? Didn’t they cover that?
Consider. Would Justice Kavanaugh’s testimony have been any less compelling and sincere if he had indeed assaulted Christine Blasey Ford when he was in high school? Is it believable that Kavanaugh would have felt extreme persecution to think that his lifetime of accomplishment could be derailed because of some girl at some drunken party? I think so.
The bottom line for Christine Blasey Ford is that she is now a disgraced party to a supposed vast leftwing hoax. She is reviled by millions. We know that we can probably never know who to believe between Ford and Kavanaugh. I expected the Ford testimony to be a data point on the balance sheet of pro’s and con’s for Kavanaugh’s confirmation. In a logical world neither Ford nor Kavanaugh would be caused to suffer, whichever way Congress voted on the confirmation.
In the reality, the result is two steps back for women. Would anyone want to come forward in similar circumstances today? Men now have affirmation that their bad behavior can continue with impunity – just like old times.
Duane Mooring Castaic