Daily Times

Justice Brett Kavanaugh remains Donald Trump’s right man for the job of Supreme Court (SC) judge. Never mind that he now stands accused by two women of sexual misconduct: Dr Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez.  In truth, of course, numbers should not come into it. That one woman has come forward ought to be sufficient to warrant investigation.

Sadly, this is not happening. President Trump has seemingly decided that the FBI should not play the role of impartial fact-finder. Rather, as if in a bid to remind everyone of the resilience of the old boys’ club, the man at the helm of the White House took to Twitter to discredit Dr Ford. The main point of contention being that if the attack “was as bad as she says” — charges would have been filed immediately. As if there is an expiry date on such misdemeanours. But in Trump’s mind, failure to report is synonymous with inventing allegations. This was evidenced by yet another tweet in which he described Kavanaugh as “a fine man with an impeccable reputation who is under assault by radical left-wing politicians”.

As outlined by American news and opinion website, Vox, the prevailing dynamic dictates that men cannot be held accountable for past misconduct; even if they were young adults at the time. But worse than that, such ‘indiscretions’ are framed as youthful exuberance; mere horseplay. Boys after all will be boys. And woe betide the woman who threatens the career path of any man.

Except that this will no longer wash. It was a travesty of justice that Anita Hill was put before an all-male panel back in 1991 when she brought charges of sexual harassment against Clarence Thomas. This was insufficient to thwart his path to the SC. History cannot be allowed to repeat itself. Dr Ford is due to testify before the Senate tomorrow as is Kavanaugh. Ramirez is determining if she will be able to do so within the same timeframe. Yet even this is not good enough. The man who has the apex court in his sights should withdraw his nomination until a full probe has been conducted into these extremely serious charges. And if he is not forthcoming on this front, his candidacy should be revoked by the president himself.

Sadly, this is the cultural climate facing the US in the run-up to the first anniversary of the #MeToo movement. The latter was supposed to change everything. Not least because some 80 women had bravely named-and-shamed Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein and other men who abused their power. That justice has hardly been delivered on this front serves to remind that as long as privileged and entitled white men hold the keys to Washington — the perpetrators of sexual violence will be given a free pass. While the women who accuse them are burned at the cross.  *

Published in Daily Times, September 26^th 2018.