Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., just remarked that the Brett Kavanaugh nomination process will indicate “how seriously our society views credible allegations of sexual assault.” This is wrong, both in the sense that it’s incorrect and in the sense that it would be immoral to treat this nomination as a proxy for something completely different.
The question here is yes or no on a nomination. One reason for voting no (although Democrats were going to vote no anyway) would be a belief that Kavanaugh committed sexual assault at age 17 and lied to the committee about it yesterday.
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The Senate Judiciary Committee, and the Senate, will not be voting on sexual assault. They will be voting on the nomination, and one of the possible reasons for voting against it will be a totally uncorroborated allegation. Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony yesterday about the alleged assault, no matter how emotional or sincere it was, can never overcome the total lack of corroborative witness or physical evidence that the two people were ever at this gathering together, or that the gathering even happened.
Not a single witness to the gathering at which this incident supposedly happened can remember it. Ford’s close friend, who was there, doesn’t remember ever meeting or knowing Kavanaugh. Ford doesn’t know exactly the date (even the month) when it happened, or the location. In contrast, Kavanaugh’s meticulous contemporaneous notes on his activities, although hardly dispositive of anything, account for his activities on every weekend of the summer of 1982.
Even if Dr. Christine Ford sincerely believes what she said in yesterday’s testimony – and I think she did – it doesn’t mean that it actually happened as she remembers it now. Allegations require corroboration to be credible, and older accusations require more corroboration. Committee investigators have spoken to everyone connected to the alleged incident, and it remains completely uncorroborated.
That’s why a lot of senators – I expect a majority – are going to vote for this nomination. It isn’t because they don’t take women seriously. It isn’t right to let a completely uncorroborated 36-year-old accusation destroy someone’s entire life, as it arguably already has destroyed Kavanaugh’s.
