I have now listened to the Senate Supreme Court confirmation hearing. I carefully listened to both the testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and that of Judge Brett Kavanaugh.
Many of the senators conducting the hearing correctly said that a woman’s allegation that she was sexually assaulted deserves to be afforded careful consideration. I agree.
That being said, once such an allegation has been made, both sides deserve due process. After listening to Ford’s testimony, I am convinced that she was abused in the 1980s. But I am still troubled by the fact that it was only in 2012 that she first named Kavanaugh as her assailant (in a therapy session).
I am also convinced that Kavanaugh’s testimony of innocence was truthful. What I am saying is that I think Ford was abused by someone — other than Kavanaugh.
Ford has claimed that she and four others attended a small party at which she was allegedly assaulted by Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh and two of those people, P.J. Smith and Mark Judge, under penalties of perjury, have denied any recollection of attending any such party.
Kavanaugh has also sworn before his God that he is innocent. The fourth person, Leland Ingham Keyser, a classmate of Ford’s at the all-girls school, has also denied attending a party with Kavanaugh.
“Simply put, Ms. Keyser does not know Mr. Kavanaugh and she has no recollection of ever being at a party or gathering where he was present, with, or without, Dr. Ford,” lawyer Howard J. Walsh said in a statement sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Kavanaugh maintained a calendar/diary back in 1982 which he produced and referred to at the Senate hearing. His notes, made at the time, about parties and other events, together with his explanations relative to those notes, tend to support his testimony, and do nothing to support Ford’s testimony.
Character witnesses from Kavanaugh’s high school, college and law school days, and from all the years he has spent in his professional life, a period of some 40 years, all believe that the man Ford describes, is not the man they have known and been close to.
I fully realize the proceeding before the committee is not a criminal proceeding. But when career and family-destroying allegations of criminal violations are made against any man or woman, there has to be a presumption of innocence, and a requirement that the allegation be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
Anything else, where there is an allegation of criminal misconduct, is not consistent with American notions of due process.
As I said, I am convinced that somebody assaulted Ford when she was in high school. I am even more convinced that it was not Kavanaugh. His denial was at least as firm as her accusation. Importantly, he was corroborated by three witnesses — one was Ford’s friend. She was corroborated by no witnesses, and no physical evidence.*
Additionally, his calendar, and the people who have known him best, tend to corroborate Kavanaugh.
I don’t think Ford is lying about Kavanaugh, I just think she is mistaken. The fact that it took her some 30 years to recall who her assailant was, and 38 years to make her allegation, does not add credibility. It might not hurt her credibility, but it certainly doesn’t enhance it.
I feel sorry for what Ford and her family have suffered. I am also deeply troubled by what Kavanaugh and his family have suffered.
Once you decide that anybody facing an allegation of criminal misconduct should be presumed guilty, and should have to prove his innocence beyond a reasonable doubt, you’re not talking about American justice.
If you are willing to demand that of Kavanaugh, then be willing to have the same rules applied to you. Or don’t you believe in “equal protection?”
* (I do think the committee should have called the three witnesses. But I think their absence probably hurt the judge more than it did Ford. Assuming they testified consistently with their sworn statements, I think testimony in open court is normally more persuasive than evidence via affidavit or deposition.)
Posted: QCOline.com October 4, 2018
Copyright 2018, John Donald O'Shea
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