Long before this entirely credible sexual assault allegation against Judge Brett Kavanaugh came to light, there were already a multitude of reasons for Sen. Susan Collins to vote against his confirmation as an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court: the absurd haste with which his confirmation is being pushed through the Senate; his extremist stance against women’s reproductive rights and the threat he poses to Roe; his view that the president (including this “president,” who nominated him and who is the subject of a complex of legal investigations) is above the law; his abject subordination to corporate interests and big money over workers and unions; his extremist views on gun rights; and so forth.
Now there is a credible allegation of sexual assault for him to answer. Must we have two men on the Supreme Court who are believed to be misogynist sexual abusers? The Senate must stop these confirmation hearings immediately, and Judge Kavanaugh should withdraw his nomination.
While both Professor Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Kavanaugh will have the opportunity to speak to the Senate Judiciary Committee next week, based on our cultural tendency to trust men and not women, I seriously doubt that Professor Ford’s claims will be fairly heard by the Republican senators on the committee, all of them men.
Sen. Collins claims to support women’s rights (including reproductive rights and, presumably, the right to live a life free of sexual assault). She has the obligation now to speak up and stop this grotesque confirmation process by affirming that she will vote “no.” Will she do it? Her legacy is in her own hands.
Elizabeth Leonard
Waterville
Send questions/comments to the editors.
