29 / 84
28 United States
The Economist
September 22nd 2018
W
HEN Clarence Thomas, rigid with anger, accused the Sen-
ate judiciary committee of subjecting him to a “high-tech
lynching for uppity blacks”, white America winced. Late in the
process to confirm Mr Thomas’s appointment to the Supreme
Court bench, he had been accused of sexual harassment by a for-
mer assistant, Anita Hill. Her claims were credible. But this was
1991, andAmericawas farmorenervous about racial thangender-
based discrimination. The prospect of a bunch ofwhite senators
barring Mr Thomas, a blackman who had risen from poverty in
the South, on the basis of an alleged sexual misdeed was too ex-
cruciating to countenance. Miss Hill was rudely sent packing by
the all-male committee, andMr Thomas confirmed.
Twenty-seven years later, the cultural tide has shifted, to Brett
Kavanaugh’s disadvantage. Until this week the 53-year-old judge
was cruising to a berth on the court. But revelations that he stands
accusedofa sexual assault 35 years agohave put that
indoubt.MrKavanaugh categorically denies the accusation. The justice com-
mittee’s Republican chairman, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, one of
several holdovers from1991, postponed a vote onpartisan lines to
send Mr Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Senate. He has invited
Mr Kavanaugh and his accuser, an academic psychologist called
Christine Blasey Ford, to appear before the committee.
Theymay not. Ms Blasey has demanded an
FBI
probe into her
claims, which Mr Grassley is against. But this is already a major
politico-cultural showdown. It involves a collision between Pres-
ident Donald Trump’s political priority, confirming conservative
judges, and the most powerful repulse to his politics, in the form
of the #MeToo movement that his misogyny helped inspire. Un-
lessMs Blasey’s allegations are discredited, the rowwill have last-
ing consequences for the standing of the court and both parties
on the defining cultural issue of the Trump era.
Ms Blasey’s claim looks unprovable—but also credible. She
says Mr Kavanaugh, as a drunk 17-year-old, threw her onto a bed
at a high-school party, gropedher and stifledher screamswithhis
hand. There are many details of the alleged attack, including
where in suburbanMaryland it occurred, thatMs Blasey says she
cannot recall. A high-school friend of Mr Kavanaugh’s, Mark
Judge, who she claims was present for the assault, has denied it.
Yet Mr Judge, an unreconstructed chauvinist who wrote a book
about his teenage alcoholism, is not a strong defencewitness.
The alleged assault is also referred to in notes taken byMs Bla-
sey’s therapist years before Mr Kavanaugh’s nomination. And
though a Democrat, like most products of Maryland’s affluent
suburbs, Ms Blasey appears to have nothing to gain fromher alle-
gations, much to lose, and to have stepped forward reluctantly. In
fear of the pillorying Ms Hill received, she says she went public
only after journalists got hold of her claim. Her lawyers say she
has since received “vicious harassment and even death threats”.
Therewill probably be no clean end to this. Whoever the Sen-
ate disbelieves will feel aggrieved, and may have been badly
wronged (as Ms Hill did and perhaps was). The truth looks irre-
trievable. Most of Mr Kavanaugh’s Republican supporters, after
an instant’s reflection, have therefore doubled down. They have
pushed back against Ms Blasey’s claims, on procedural and other
grounds, and suggested she must show up next week or be ig-
nored. “I’ll listen to the lady, but we’re going to bring this to a
close,” sniffed Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. This is worse
than Ms Hill suffered. Her allegations were investigated by the
FBI
. Moreover, the Republicans’ ulterior motive in trying to press
their nominee home is more nakedly self-interested than it was
in 1991. At issue is not merely a cherished Supreme Court berth.
Their reputations, and their party’s prospects, are also on the line.
An ambition to steer the Supreme Court to the right is the
main justification many Republicans cite for backing a leader
who is anathema to Republican ideas and values. It is a determi-
nation that has sustained them, with an unsulliable feeling of
rightness, through the indignities Mr Trump has piled on them.
Now, in the shadow of mid-term elections at which Senate Re-
publicans could lose their judge-makingmajority, they are at risk
of failing in their all-justifying endeavour. It is too excruciating a
prospect for once-admired senators such as Mr Graham, whose
fawning overMr Trump is especially dismal, to bear.
The ironyof this,whichwill not be lost onat least half the elec-
torate, is that by sticking blindlywithMr Kavanaugh Republicans
are inviting a more serious blow to their personal reputations
and party’s viability. Just as outrage over Ms Hill’s treatment trig-
gered a surge ofwomen into politics, Mr Trump’s offensiveness is
also motivating women. The Democrats, who have seen a wave
ofwomen candidates, are already profiting. The revulsion many
Alabamian women felt towards Roy Moore, a Republican candi-
date with an alleged fondness for young girls, cost the Republi-
cans a Senate seat they thought they owned. The gender gap in
partisan loyalty is at a record high and growing, as working-class
women trickle fromthe Trumppartyand college-educatedwom-
en leave it in a torrent. If the Democrats take either congressional
chamber inNovember, thiswill be themain reasonwhy.
The old boys-will-be-boys’ club
The damageMrKavanaugh’s confirmation, in the current circum-
stances, could do the Supreme Court is evenworse. It would give
it a second alleged conservative sex pest, and thereby an all-male
conservative majority. It could then settle gender-divisive is-
sues—most obviously concerning abortion rights—in ways that
most women would abhor. The blow to the court’s standing
could be severe. This is something Mr Grassley and his Republi-
can colleagues should considerwhen they cite rules-based objec-
tions toMs Blasey’s claims. The legitimacyAmerican institutions
enjoy rests onmore than following rules. Theymust also be con-
sidered fair—or suffer the consequences.
7
Her word against his
Sending Brett Kavanaugh to the SupremeCourt risks damaging Republicans and the court
Lexington