Kavanaugh Case Shows How Little Has Changed for Judiciary Committee
Joan Biskupic
wrote a piece in CNN Politics looking at the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s vetting process and whether it is up to the task of handling Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination process. Biskupic compares its handling of allegations of attempted sexual assault made against Kavanaugh with the accusations of sexual harassment made against then U.S. Supreme Court nominee ,Judge Clarence Thomas, in 1991. She writes, “Even separated by 27 years and with a transformed committee, several similarities exist between the Thomas and Kavanaugh confirmations. Both times, women brought confidential accusations to the Senate Judiciary Committee, senators were slow to act, and the charges became public through leaks and news reports.”
According to PRRI polling, by a margin of more than two to one, Americans overall say real experiences of sexual assault or harassment that go unreported or not believed are a bigger problem in the U.S. today than false accusations (65 percent vs. 26 percent). Among Republican men, less than half (47 percent) say unreported or disbelieved real experiences of sexual assault or harassment are the bigger problem, compared to 41 percent who say false accusations are the bigger problem.