Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation: The patriarchy strikes back at #MeToo
The confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court plays right into a simmering #MeToo backlash
ERIN KEANE
OCTOBER 6, 2018 9:00PM (UTC)
When Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, made the dramatic announcement on Friday afternoon that she would vote in favor of Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court, she took pains to paint herself first as supportive of Christine Blasey Ford, the professor who testified to the Senate that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in high school (an allegation the judge denied under oath), and of the #MeToo movement in general.
“The Me Too movement is real. It matters. It is needed, and it is long overdue,” Collins said.
Then the senator proceeded to give all those who have fretted over whether this real, needed, long overdue movement has gone “too far” what they wanted to hear — that the roiling revolution of the last year can be stopped in its tracks to favor the status quo, in which even a credible accusation of sexual assault isn’t enough to keep a powerful guy from getting the job he and his supporters believe he deserves.
“I found [Blasey Ford’s] testimony to be sincere, painful and compelling. I believe that she is a survivor of a sexual assault and that this trauma has upended her life,” said Collins. “Nevertheless, the four witnesses she named could not corroborate any of the events.”
Her decision to vote yes made today’s confirmation vote -- by a count of 50-48, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voting "present" to cover for fellow Republican Sen. Steve Daines' absence -- pretty much a done deal. Kavanaugh's term on the Supreme Court could prove disastrous on many levels. As the ACLU pointed out in its report on Kavanaugh’s civil liberties record — before the organization broke its own policy of not weighing in on judicial nominees to oppose Kavanaugh’s confirmation — he’s not a big fan of privacy, on issues ranging from the NSA’s broad surveillance of phone records to random drug testing and stop-and-frisk.
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https://www.salon.com/2018/10/06/brett-kavanaughs-confirmation-the-patriarchy-strikes-back-at-metoo/
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