Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh affirms prior to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday on Capitol Hill in Washington , D.C. Pool/Getty Images conceal caption
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Supreme Court candidate Judge Brett Kavanaugh affirms before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
Pool/Getty Images
Across the nation, Americans were transfixed Thursday by television coverage of Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh as they affirmed before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Ford mentioned her claims that the Supreme Court nominee had actually sexually assaulted her when they were teens in 1982. Kavanaugh emphatically rejected it.After hours of
emotional statement and sometimes fiery rhetoric, the day ended with a presidential tweet. Trump praised Kavanaugh, calling the federal appeals court judge’s testimony “powerful, truthful, and captivating.” While Trump’s comment was meant as a favorable review of his candidate’s statement, it also worked as a succinct headline for the whole proceeding.The next step comes Friday early morning when the Judiciary Committee is anticipated to vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court.Here are four takeaways from the hearing:1.
A cultural, historical and legal minute Given that the allegations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh were initially reported in the media in recent weeks, comparisons with the 1991 Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings have actually been all over. The hearing Thursday provided a lot more fodder for the conversation.At the start of the hearing with Ford, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, recounted how 27 years ago she was passing through an airport when she”saw a large group of people collected around a TV to listen to Anita Hill inform her story.”At the time Feinstein was a former mayor. Today she is the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. In 1992, she was among a record variety of ladies chosen in Congress in the”year of the woman.” Christine Blasey Ford is sworn in prior to the Senate panel on Thursday. Win McNamee/AP hide caption toggle caption Win McNamee/AP Christine Blasey Ford is sworn in before the Senate panel on Thursday. Win McNamee/AP When
Hill affirmed before the then-all male Judiciary Committee, there was no social networks, no Twitterverse or Facebook pals. Thursday, there were 4 women on
the Democratic side of the dais, and Americans were seeing not just on TVs in airports and bars, but
also in parks and streets and even trains on their smartphones.What will the long-lasting results of Thurday’s hearing be? Will history record the hearing as an inflection point that changed the Supreme Court confirmation process? Will it alter how the public thinks about sexual assault allegations? 2. Kavanaugh’s opening: Angry, fiery, emotional Brett Kavanaugh, his election to the Supreme Court on the line, gave an opening declaration of some 45 minutes in which he madly denounced the charges against him, showing far more emotion than he carried out in the preliminary round of questioning previously this month or during his interview on Fox News earlier this week. He not only denied being at a party with Ford, but blasted his
confirmation process as politicized, declaring,”‘Recommendations and authorization’has been replaced with’search and destroy.’ “Supreme Court candidate Judge Brett Kavanaugh testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images conceal caption toggle caption Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Watch Kavanaugh’s Opening Declaration The defiant tone Kavanaugh set for his defense won praise from the president immediately as the hearing ended.”Judge Kavanaugh showed America precisely why I nominated him. His testimony was powerful, honest, and fascinating,”< a href =https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1045444544068812800 > Trump tweeted.”Democrats’ search and damage technique is disgraceful and this process
has been an overall sham and effort to delay, obstruct, and withstand. The Senate needs to vote! “Judge Kavanaugh showed America precisely why I nominated him. His testimony was powerful, truthful,
and captivating. Democrats’search and destroy technique is disgraceful and this procedure has been an overall sham and effort to postpone, block, and resist. The Senate must vote
!– Donald J. Trump(@realDonaldTrump ) September 27, 2018 3. Ford’s statement generates outpouring of #MeToo stories”‘On an usually weekday, our line of folks waiting to speak with among our hotline staff may be 6 to 8 individuals,’said Scott Berkowitz, president of the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, which runs the hotline.’Today, it’s gotten as high as 49. ‘”A lot of those callers, Berkowitz said, had stories that mirrored Ford’s: They wished to discuss occasions that had taken place years before. “View Ford’s Opening Declaration I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she states, charges would have been right away submitted with regional Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her caring parents. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!– Donald J.
Trump(@realDonaldTrump) September 21, 2018 4. Did generating an outside specialist to concern Ford backfire?A little second-guessing that started early in the hearing had to do with the decision by Republican politicians on the committee to use an outside professional on sex criminal activities to question Ford. They were in a hard position, in regards to optics, as the GOP contingent on the panel consists of 11 white men.The specialist, Rachel Mitchell, sat behind a desk in front
of the GOP side, the 11 men looming behind her. And from
the start, she was faced with a challenging task. Her questioning of Ford was limited to five-minute increments, after which she would need to stop and disrupt her line of query in order to permit a Democratic senator to go next and talk with Ford, as the Democrats on committee utilized their allotted time to question Ford directly.At completion of the questioning of Ford, Mitchell, the head of the sex crimes system at the Maricopa County Lawyer’s Workplace in Arizona, acknowledged what had actually ended up being obvious: that there is”no research study that says that this setting in five-minute increments is the very best way “to question a victim of sexual assault.Beyond that however, it was not clear what Mitchell was trying to establish or accomplish. Ford’s worry of flying was one area that Mitchell pinpointed, getting Ford to admit that, in spite of her concerns and reluctance to fly to Washington for an interview by the committee,
she had actually flown for getaways and professional conferences.There were likewise a number of concerns to attempt to determine who paid for the polygraph test that Ford took, in what seemed to be an effort to learn if Ford had a financial backer. Ford’s lawyers informed the panel that they paid for the polygraph, which they were representing her pro bono.Mitchell seems exploring out whether some George Soros-type sugar daddy lags all this– John Harwood(@JohnJHarwood) September 27, 2018 Mitchell began the questioning of Kavanaugh as well, but Republican politician senators quickly decided to ask their own questions, and use their time to safeguard Trump’s high court candidate. It was a marked shift from Republicans ‘hesitancy to question Ford. Through the last stretch
of the hearing, Mitchell was not offered the chance to probe Kavanaugh’s statement as she was with Ford’s. Brett Kavanaugh Offers Fiery Defense In Hearing That Was A National Cultural Moment
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