What Happened In The Brett Kavanaugh Hearing

“The Supreme Court must never be viewed as a partisan institution. The Justices on the Supreme Court do not sit on opposite sides of an aisle.” — Brett Kavanaugh, Sept. 4, 2018.

When Kavanaugh talks about the need for due process, he’s talking to Republicans. They’ve used a lot of legal language — like “due process” and “presumption of innocence” — to talk about how Kavanaugh should be treated, despite the fact that (as we’ve heard many times today) this is a political proceeding and he’s not on trial, which means this kind of language doesn’t really apply.

I think it’s interesting that we now live in a world where, even in the context of a fiery denunciation like this, we also get acknowledgement of the reality of sexual harassment in the workplace, the trauma of sexual assault, and empathy for a friend waiting years to tell someone about their assault. Maybe I’m wrong, but would that have been included even 20 years ago?