Emotions ran high Thursday as Judge Brett Kavanaugh and his accuser Christine Blasey Ford testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about an alleged encounter that’s decades old.
“I would never do to them what you’ve done to this guy,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina). “This is the most unethical sham since I’ve been in politics. And if you really wanted to know the truth you sure as hell wouldn’t have done what you’ve done to this guy.”
“You have inspired and given courage to women to come forward as they have done to every one of our officers and many other public places,” said committee member Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) to Ford.
“My reaction to [Ford’s] testimony is this is a woman who was telling a very heartfelt story,” said Jennifer Nevins, a Trump delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention. “The problem is, it doesn’t mean Brett Kavanaugh is any part of that story.”
But Mary Anne Case, a professor of law at the University of Chicago, said she saw something different when it came to Kavanaugh’s testimony.
“The two adjectives that occurred to me [during Kavanaugh’s testimony] are hysterical ... and maudlin,” said Case, an expert on feminist jurisprudence, sex discrimination and the legal regulation of sexuality, marriage and family.
“The behavior that I witnessed, the method of presenting before the committee ... was that for which women are often condemned,” she said.
Nevins and Case join Eddie Arruza in discussion.
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