Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, believes Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hinges on whether senators find a woman’s claim of sexual misconduct against the judge to be credible.
“We are now in a place where it’s not about whether or not Judge Kavanaugh is qualified,” Murkowski said late Monday during an interview with the New York Times. “It is about whether or not a woman who has been a victim at some point in her life is to be believed.”
Murkowski’s comments precede Kavanaugh’s hearing Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee to address an allegation leveled at him by Christine Blasey Ford that the judge drunkenly forced himself on her during a 1982 high school house party in Maryland. Ford, who says she was able to extricate herself from Kavanaugh groping her over her clothes, is also due to testify Thursday before the panel. Kavanaugh has denied Ford’s claim.
“We need to be able to listen,” Murkowski added. “We have to listen to what she will say on the record, under oath, and what Judge Kavanaugh will say on the record, under oath.”
Despite not being a committee member, Murkowski aided negotiations between lawmakers and Ford’s legal team so discussions did not, as she put it, deteriorate over an “arbitrary timeline,” ensuring “at the end of the day justice is delivered,” the New York Times reported in the article published Tuesday.
Murkowski has not yet publicly indicated whether she will vote for Kavanaugh, but she and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, are considered to be key swing GOP votes given their support of abortion rights.
Kavanaugh additionally faces an accusation from a second woman, Deborah Ramirez, who came forward Sunday alleging the judge exposed himself to her at a Yale University party in the 1983-1984 academic year when Kavanaugh was as freshman. Kavanaugh has dismissed Ramirez’s claim as a “smear.”
Murkowski on Monday expressed regret over some Republicans discounting Ramirez as being part of a coordinated Democrat-led effort to undermine Kavanaugh’s nomination.
“We are at just a difficult place because the conversation is not rational on either side,” she said. “Just look at some of the hateful things that are being said out there. How do you dial that back?”
Kavanaugh’s and Ford’s appearances before the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. on Thursday. They will not testify together, but rather in two separate sessions.
