As of Monday, Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s chances of becoming the next Supreme Court justice seemed fairly unlikely. He had been accused of something he could neither prove nor disprove. The pressure for lawmakers to reject his nomination over allegations that as a teenager, he sexually assaulted a fellow high-schooler in the early 1980s was mounting.
Now key U.S. senators are urging Christine Blasey Ford, who claims Kavanaugh tried to rape her when they were both in high school, to testify Monday before Congress. But thanks to the Democrats’ maneuvering, the senators calling for her to testify under oath are actually throwing a wrench into Democrats’ strategy to delay the confirmation vote until after the November midterm elections.
When Ford’s story was first reported last week, some newsrooms predicted that moderate Republicans like Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska would drop their support for Kavanaugh. Another bit of conventional wisdom stated the allegations would give vulnerable red-state Democrats, including Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, reasonable cover to vote against the nominee.
Then something happened Tuesday evening: One of Ford’s attorneys, Debra Katz, told reporters her client would testify only after the FBI investigated her story. This marked a major reversal from when Lisa Banks, who is also representing Ford, said her client is, “willing to do whatever it takes to get her story forth.”
This significant moving of the goalposts, coupled with the fact that Ford recalls neither the date nor the place of the alleged assault, and the fact that Kavanaugh emphatically denies the charges, and the fact that two persons named by the alleged victim deny the incident ever occurred, appears to have had an effect on key Senate actors.
Rather than rally around the Democrats’ call to delay the Supreme Court confirmation for as long as it takes (convenient, considering the midterms are just about the corner), lawmakers once suspected of opposing Kavanaugh over this allegation are now calling on Ford to tell her story under oath, whether in public or in private, as she prefers. Some are even urging the alleged victim to agree to the timetable set by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, which calls for both Ford and Kavanaugh to testify separately this Monday.
“I just don’t understand why the hearing shouldn’t go forth,” Collins said in a Wednesday radio interview, adding that the timing of the allegations “is certainly very unfortunate and I think unfair.”
“I think we should be providing [Ford] law enforcement protection, but I think it’s not fair to Judge Kavanaugh for her not to come forward and testify,” the senator added. “Both of them need to testify under oath next Monday before the Judiciary Committee.”
Referring to the options Grassley has offered Ford to testify, Collins added, “I don’t think she can reject, having had made all of these serious allegations, I don’t think she can reject all those options because otherwise there are these very serious allegations hanging over the head of a nominee who has emphatically denied them.”
Murkowski, who said earlier this week that she wants both Kavanaugh and Ford to testify, told CNN Tuesday that, “I think the allegation has been made by Dr. Ford, I think her story deserves to be heard, and the committee process has been made available to her.”
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who supported delaying the Senate Judiciary Committee vote originally planned for last Thursday, is practically begging Ford to tell her story. “I now implore Dr. Ford to accept the invitation for Monday in a public or private setting. The committee should hear her voice,” he tweeted Wednesday.
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who also supported delaying the confirmation vote, took it a step further Tuesday, saying that the Senate should just go ahead with the confirmation vote if neither Kavanaugh nor Ford testifies. “Republicans extended a hand in good faith. If we don’t hear from both sides on Monday, let’s vote,” he said.
On the other side of the aisle is Manchin, D-W.Va., who said this week that Ford and Kavanaugh should testify before Senate Judiciary Committee as soon as possible.
“Both have said they are willing to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee and I hope they will be given the opportunity to do that as quickly as possible,” the senator tweeted.
The odd one out here is Heitkamp, who has stayed away from taking any sort of hard position except to say that Ford should have a chance to testify before the committee. But even if Heitkamp is ultimately a “nay” on Kavanaugh, it looks increasingly likely that Collins, Murkowski, and Manchin might go the other way. Flake and Corker’s failure to break ranks is just icing on the cake.
All of this is to say: Kavanaugh’s chances seem much brighter now than they did a few days ago. And Kavanaugh might have Katz and Banks to thank for this.
