Washington Democrat Patty Murray asked the Senate Wednesday morning if it will listen to and respect the women who have accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, and warned that the Senate risks becoming “one more place where women’s voices are swept under the rug.”
Murray, the highest ranking female Democrat in the Senate, challenged lawmakers in the upper chamber to stop and reflect ahead of the pivotal hearing with California professor Christine Blasey Ford, who will share her account of an alleged assault by Kavanaugh.
“What is this really about, right now, in this moment, here in the United States Senate?” Murray said on the Senate floor. “Will women be heard? Or will women be ignored?”
Will Ford or Kavanaugh’s second accuser, Deborah Ramirez, “be respected, listened to, and heard,” Murray asked, “or will they be pushed aside, put in their places, and told to remain quiet?”
Murray has said that she decided to run for office after watching male senators in 1991 “grill” Anita Hill, who accused then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of harassment.
“I ran to be a voice for the women and men across the country who thought it was absolutely wrong for her to be ignored and attacked, swept aside and disbelieved,” Murray said.
The four-term senator ran for office for her granddaughters, she said, “who are not quite old enough to understand what will happen on Thursday, but who will grow up in a world that will treat them better or worse depending on how women are treated this week,” said Murray.
Murray’s speech comes one day before the Senate Judiciary Committee will hear from Ford and Kavanaugh in what is expected to be a contentious hearing. Democrats say they’ve been kept in the dark about the process, but were told late Tuesday that they will get five minutes each to question the witnesses. Republicans on the committee, all men, have hired outside counsel to question Ford.
“Women and men are watching, they are paying attention, and they are not going to forget,” Murray said.
Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, set the committee vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation for Friday and Republican leaders have vowed that no matter what happens at the hearing, Kavanaugh will receive an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor.
