Judge Brett Kavanaugh Is Guilty As Sin

On Thursday, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and his accuser, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, will each testify separately before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Professor Ford alleges that the two attended a high school party in suburban Washington DC in the summer of 1982. At that party, Professor Ford claims that Kavanaugh held her down on a bed, tried to remove her clothes, and at one point put his hand over her mouth to silence her. She believes he would have raped her had another student not appeared in the room.

 

Since the story of the alleged sexual assault became public nearly two weeks ago, new details have emerged each day. A second woman, Debra Ramirez, has now also accused Judge Kavanaugh of sexual assault.

 

In addition, 1983 yearbook photos from Judge Kavanaugh’s high school, the elite all-boys Georgetown Preparatory School, have at least 14 mentions of some variation of “Renate alumni” on their pages. Her name also appears in a group photo of nine football players, including Judge Kavanaugh, with the caption “Renate Alumni.” The Renate in question is Renate Schroeder, a student at a nearby Catholic girls school.

 

We’ve all been to high school, and we’ve all been around high school boys, and we all know just exactly what these boys are insinuating. Either they all slept with her and are bragging about it, or they are lying about sleeping with her and are still bragging about it. Either way, it’s wrong and offensive to women, no one more than Ms. Schroeder.

 

Earlier this month, Renate Schroeder Dolphin and 64 other women sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee attesting to Judge Kavanaugh’s strong moral character and stating that “he has behaved honorably and treated women with respect.”

 

This was before the “Renate Alumni” mentions became known to the world. Now that they have, Ms. Schroeder recently told the New York Times that:

 

“I don’t know what ‘Renate Alumnus’ actually means. I can’t begin to comprehend what goes through the minds of 17-year-old boys who write such things, but the insinuation is horrible, hurtful and simply untrue. I pray their daughters are never treated this way. I will have no further comment.”  

 

Back to the case at hand.  Professor Ford is scheduled to testify on Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. And while 65 women from Judge Kavanaugh’s high school may have attested to his good character, on the other side of the debate more than 200 women from Dr. Ford’s high school, Holton Arms in Bethesda, MD, signed a letter of support for her stating that what she experienced was “all too common” for women at their school.

 

To say there is a lot riding on Judge Kavanaugh’s potential confirmation as a Supreme Court Justice would be the understatement of the century.  On so many key issues, Judge Kavanaugh is a strict conservative. He favors big business at the expense of government, he disdains regulation, he supports the oil and gas industry wholeheartedly, and he doesn’t believe in Americans’ basic human rights to employment, housing, healthcare and education.

 

What’s more, Judge Kavanaugh’s views on abortion are murky at best.  The Supreme Court currently has a 4-4 balance between liberals and conservatives. Were Judge Kavanaugh to be confirmed, he could tilt the balance in favoring of outlawing or severely restricting a woman’s right to control her own body.

 

Which is absolutely terrifying, because we all know what that means. More backroom and back alley abortions, higher maternal mortality, and more unwanted children born into a world of generational poverty.

 

It’s a deadly cycle, and one we surely don’t want to relive. Because that’s what America was like prior to the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision, which affirmed a woman’s right to choose. I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that America has evolved somewhat since 1973, and I for one don’t want to go back to the reproductive laws and sexual mores of that era.

 

Returning to the Thursday hearing at which Professor Blasey Ford will testify, the Republicans are in a quandary. All of their 11 members on the Senate Judiciary Committee are men. Afraid of the optics of a man forcefully questioning a woman about an alleged sexual assault, they have brought in an outside counsel, a woman, to question Professor Blasey Ford.

 

Rachel Mitchell, chief of the Special Victims Division of the Maricopa County attorney’s office in Arizona, was hired by Republicans to question Dr. Blasey Ford, presumably to demonstrate that Republicans are on the side of women and victims. Or something like that. Either way, no one is buying it.

 

On the Democratic side of the Committee, there are four women, and Democrats have wisely chosen to have the Senators themselves question Professor Blasey Ford.

 

So where do we go from here?

 

For me, it’s simple. I watched Judge Kavanaugh’s Fox News interview on Monday. He appeared with his wife Ashley, who looked about as uncomfortable as when Hillary Clinton stood behind President Bill Clinton while he denied having sexual relations with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky.  

 

And we all know how that turned out for Bill.

 

Impeachment.

 

I hope for a similar guilty verdict for Judge Kavanaugh. Because although he uttered the word “process” about 200 times during his 20-minute Fox News interview, and continually maintained that he just wanted “a fair process,” not once did I detect an iota of empathy from the Judge for Professor Blasey Ford.

 

He reminded me, quite simply, of the frat boys I knew from high school and college who lived to drink, objectify women, and occasionally sexually assault them.

 

Let me be clear.  I grew up in the 1980’s, and sexual customs were a little more lax back then. But regardless of the climate at the time, what Judge Kavanaugh allegedly did to Professor Blasey Ford was wrong in 1982, and it’s wrong now. There are simply no two ways about it.

 

More of the Judge’s classmates from high school and college have come forward in recent days, claiming he was a hard drinker and partier.  They say the allegations by Professor Blasey Ford ring all too true for the Brett Kavanaugh they knew.

 

President Trump has continued to back his nominee, Judge Kavanaugh, and just yesterday he impugned one of the Judge’s accusers, Debra Ramirez, by saying she was too “messed up” to remember what happened clearly.

 

But a woman being drunk is not, repeat not, a license for men to sexually assault her.  Not now, not ever.

 

So my mind’s made up. I think Judge Brett Kavanaugh is one of those entitled, silver-spoon-in-his-mouth Masters of the Universe who has always done whatever he pleases, and has always used his power and privilege to get what he wants.

 

It’s time for that to end. It’s time for Americans, and in this case the Senate Judiciary Committee in particular, to take a stand and say enough is enough with regard to sexual assault against women.

 

The Senate must reject Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination.

 

Why?

 

Because he’s guilty as sin.

 

RESIST.

 

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