Hold the vote on Kavanaugh
THE DOUBLESPEAK coming from Senate Democrats this last week would have left even George Orwell dumbfounded. Last weekend, Christine Blasey Ford leveled a serious allegation at Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. She said he had sexually assaulted her 36 years ago when they were both in high school. She couldn’t recall basic details like when or where the incident had taken place. She said another high school student, Mark Judge, witnessed the incident. Judge called the allegation “nuts.” She also said she hadn’t talked about the incident for decades.
On Monday, The New York Times reported that her lawyer said she “was willing to appear in front of Congress.”
The timing of the accusation was significant and suspicious. The Senate Judiciary Committee had scheduled a vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination for Thursday. Hearing from Ford would accomplish a significant Democrat political objective — delaying Kavanaugh’s nomination.
Senate Republicans quickly agreed to hear from both
Ford and Kavanaugh anyway, scheduling a hearing this coming Monday.
One problem. Ford wouldn’t accept their invitation. For a while, her lawyer wouldn’t even return messages from Judiciary Committee staffers. Then her lawyer said Ford would be willing to testify, but only after an FBI investigation. That was a stall tactic. The FBI collects information about the nominee, but it doesn’t conduct criminal investigations that fall under the jurisdiction of local police. It provides background information that help senators determine the fitness of a nominee. Now that Ford’s accusation is public, it’s up to the senators themselves to determine its validity.
Republicans on the Judiciary Committee continued to try to arrange for Ford to testify. They gave her the choice of a public hearing, a private hearing, a public or private interview with staff or even having committee staff talk to her in California. That wasn’t enough.
“Forcing her into a sham hearing is silencing her,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., tweeted.
“She is under no obligation to participate in the Republican efforts to sweep this whole thing under the rug,” Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-hawaii, said.
Got that? Letting Ford tell her story to the entire country — after she said she was willing to do so — was a Republican plot to silence her and sweep her story under the rug.
On Friday, Ford’s lawyer said she would testify but not until Thursday and only if Kavanaugh testified first. So much for due process.
It’s likely that negotiations will continue over the weekend. They shouldn’t. Republicans offered Ford a chance to testify and then bent over backward trying to make it work.
She refused. That was her choice. It’s time to hold the vote and give the senators a chance to make their choice on Kavanaugh.
The views expressed above are those of the Las Vegas Review-journal. All other opinions expressed on the Opinion and Commentary pages are those of the individual artist or author indicated.