On September 27, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hear Dr. Blasey Ford testify that Judge Kavanaugh sexually harassed her 36 years ago. Kavanaugh will then have an opportunity to defend himself.
While Senate Republicans have done their best to accommodate Dr. Ford’s testimony and withhold judgement, many Senate Democrats have already proclaimed Judge Kavanaugh guilty until proven innocent.
Democrats would be wise to heed the words of one of their longtime standard bearers, Joe Biden. This video of Biden when he was Judiciary Committee chairman presiding over the Anita Hill / Clarence Thomas hearings in 1991 should be required viewing for everyone — witnesses, committee members, senators, advocates, media, the general public. We implore you to watch it in its entirety, it’s just 15-minutes long. Biden’s bi-partisan monologue contains many truths directly applicable to this Thursday’s hearings with Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh. A few pertinent quotes and paraphrases:
- Sensitive, uncorroborated, 30+ year old accusations are normally brought to the Judiciary Committee chairman for private (not public) discussion with the nominee.
- Allegations of consequence are shared with committee members but those members should not violate the chairman’s trust by leaking them to the media.
- The chairman’s job is not to defend or prosecute the nominee, it’s to see to it that the nominee gets a fair shot.
- “Experts say sexual assaults happen in a pattern. It doesn’t happen in isolated incidents, it’s a pattern. It’s probative if there’s not a pattern. That has some dispositive weight. No one’s proved a pattern here of anything.”
- “This is not a referendum on whether or not sexual harassment is a grave offense. This is about whether or not sexual harassment occurred.”
- “From the beginning until the end, the presumption (of innocence) is with you (the nominee / the accused). We’ll find out whether the witnesses are telling the truth as best as we are capable of doing. I have not made my judgement based on this proceeding because we have not heard all the evidence.”
- “The next person that refers to an F.B.I. report as being worth anything, obviously doesn’t understand anything. The F.B.I. in this case or any other case does not reach a conclusion. Period. The F.B.I. report is inconclusive. They (the F.B.I.) say ‘he said, she said and they said.’ Period. F.B.I. reports do not reach conclusions. They do not make recommendations.”
- “The nature of the offense (sexual harassment) is one that almost always takes place where there can be and will be no corroborating evidence. And all of us are susceptible to that errant charge. The presumption (of innocence) is with you (the nominee / the accused) and should be until all the evidence is in.”
- “Nobody’s reputation is a snapshot, it’s a motion picture. And the picture’s being made. And you’ve made a vast part of it the last 43 years.”