75. Marcia Coyle and Tony Mauro, “Veteran Prosecutor Michael Bromwich Joins Kavanaugh Accuser’s Legal Team,” National Law Journal, September 25, 2018, https://www.law.com/nationallawjournal/2018/09/22/veteran-prosecutor-michael-bromwich-joins-kavanagh-accusers-legal-team/.
76. Ariane de Vogue, “Committee contacts Ford’s friend about party; ‘she has no recollection’ of it, lawyer says,” CNN, September 22, 2018, https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/09/22/politics/kavanaugh-ford-accuser-nomination/index.html.
77. Emma Brown, “California professor, writer of confidential Brett Kavanaugh letter, speaks out about her allegations of sexual assault,” Washington Post, September 16, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/california-professor-writer-of-confidential-brett-kavanaugh-letter-speaks-out-about-her-allegation-of-sexual-assault/2018/09/16/46982194-b846-11e8-94eb-3bd52dfe917b_story.html.
78. Kim, Sullivan, Brown, “Christine Blasey Ford moves closer.”
79. Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel), “11) Wow. ‘Before her name became public, Ford told . . . ’ That is WaPo admitting that it had the name, and had Ford’s response to what would clearly be a Keyser denial, but NEVER PUT IT OUT THERE. Again, why? A lot of people have a lot questions to answer,” Twitter, September 22, 2018, 8:47 p.m., https://twitter.com/KimStrassel/status/1043708375299584000.
80. Ariane de Vogue, “Committee contacts Ford’s friend.”
81. Sarah Young, Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2004), 272.
Chapter Seven: Too Big To Fail
1. “Another Woman?” Drudge Report Archive, September 23, 2018, http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/data/2018/09/23/index.htm?s=flag.
2. This New Yorker story about the Ramirez allegations will be quoted throughout this chapter. Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer, “Senate Democrats Investigate A New Allegation of Sexual Misconduct, From Brett Kavanaugh’s College Years,” New Yorker, September 23, 2018, https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/senate-democrats-investigate-a-new-allegation-of-sexual-misconduct-from-the-supreme-court-nominee-brett-kavanaughs-college-years-deborah-ramirez.
3. Madison Feller, “The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer Is Holding the World’s Most Powerful Men Accountable,” Elle, October 8, 2018, https://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a23626662/new-yorker-jane-mayer-brett-kavanaugh-ronan-farrow/?platform=hootsuite.
4. John McCormack, “Kavanaugh Classmate Named in Letter Strongly Denies Allegations of Misconduct,” Weekly Standard, September 14, 2018, https://www.weeklystandard.com/john-mccormack/kavanaugh-classmate-named-in-letter-strongly-denies-allegations-of-misconduct.
5. Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti), Twitter, September 23, 2018, 4:33 p.m., https://twitter.com/MichaelAvenatti/status/1044006928416825344.
6. Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti), Twitter, September 23, 2018, 6:16 p.m., https://twitter.com/michaelavenatti/status/1044032678951960576.
7. It was a sentiment echoed by previous Supreme Court nominees, such as Nixon’s defeated nominee Clement Haynsworth. He was nominated in 1969 for the vacancy left by the resignation of Abe Fortas, whose elevation to chief justice had been blocked in 1968 amid criticism of his political activity as a justice. Fortas resigned after the revelation of further conflicts of interest and ethical concerns. Haynsworth was a respected Fourth Circuit judge but also a Republican and a Southerner replacing one of the Court’s strong liberals, whose defeat was still a sore spot. While his life’s work showed him to be relatively moderate, the NAACP and AFL-CIO charged that he supported segregation and corporate interests, citing the outcomes of certain opinions rather than the legal reasoning buttressing them. They were soon joined by other groups raising concerns. A concerted campaign against Haynsworth gained steam because it tapped into the same ethical concerns that had derailed the Fortas nomination. Haynsworth was accused of an incredibly complex conflict of interest. He had ruled in favor of a firm that had a relationship with a vending machine firm he’d once served on the board of. He held stock in the vending firm, yet didn’t recuse, because he did not know the two businesses were related. Although legal analysists ultimately concluded no real conflict had been present, the media coverage was brutal, with one newspaper saying he “appeared edgy and stuttering.” He had a slight speech impediment, but the description left the impression he was hiding something. And the politics were horrible, as the very Republicans he needed for confirmation had led the charge opposing Fortas for superficially similar reasons. The White House hung back from the fight until he was on the Senate floor, then engaged in a heavy-handed campaign that may have cost Haynsworth even more votes. Two weeks after his nomination failed, he met with Nixon in the White House. Even so soon after the defeat, he seemed to have recovered enough to joke that, after reading the New York Times during his nomination, he had become convinced that anyone as bad as he was didn’t deserve to be in the Supreme Court.
8. “What You Need to Know About Allegations Made in The New Yorker Article on Judge Brett Kavanaugh,” Fact Sheets, White House website, September 23, 2018, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/need-know-allegations-made-new-yorker-article-judge-brett-kavanaugh/.
9. Coffin v United States, 156 U.S. 432, 454–55 (1895).
10. See, e.g., David Lisa, Lori Gardinier, Sarah C. Nicksa, and Ashley M. Cote, “False Allegations of Sexual Assault: An Analysis of Ten Years of Reported Cases,” Violence Against Women 16, no. 12 (2010): 1318–1334; Liz Kelly, Jo Lovett and Linda Regan, “A gap or a chasm? Attrition in reported rape cases,” Home Office Research Study 293, (London: Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate, 2005).