False allegations get referred out - substantiated allegations get brought back to the committee and referred for prosecution
This is why you have a thorough investigation. Not limited, not rushed.
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That’s the thing – the Republican majority is trying to frame this as a criminal trial, which has the high standard of “presumed innocent unless proven beyond a reasonable doubt.” The Democratic majority sees this as a job interview, BK’s to lose, by showing how he reacts to plausible accusations.
Nobody is entitled to a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court, but mr “I went to Yale” is acting that way, and the Republican majority doesn’t care, they just want their guy.
It really is the worst.
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That’s a very dangerous line of thinking and is playing into the hands of the other side.
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This 
Is Not A Trial
This is a job interview for one of the most mission critical jobs in the United States federal government. There is no benefit of the doubt. There is picking someone who beyond doubt never attempted to commit rape. Ever. Not yesterday. Not thirty years ago.
No one is owed this job, as the Republicans demonstrated in their categorical refusal to even so much as consider anyone nominated by President Obama. I know 2016 was a loooong time ago, lost to the mists of time, but I have faith that buried somewhere in their hypocritical little minds the Republicans faintly remember they decided nominees aren’t entitled to confirmation for reasons so vapid and nakedly partisan as it being the last year of an administration. But credible sexual assault accusations? Get that frat boy a robe! Why? Because fuck integrity, that’s why!
Blame the accuser? Blame a random guy who vaguely resembled the accused? Blame Hillary Clinton? Hells yeah! Shit, Alex Jones is probably off somewhere blaming chemtrails or frog sex or the Elders of Zion!
But suggest that a guy credibly accused of sexual assault by three separate women isn’t automatically entitled to sit in judgement of the most important court cases in the country? Well obviously that’s a witch hunt! /s
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There has to be some standard of proof. Just an accusation should never be enough, as the political stakes are high enough that the opposition will always be able to come up with someone willing to make an accusation. If the precedent is set that it only takes an accusation to derail any nomination, then the tactic will become standard practice.
Dr. Ford has already been thrown under the bus. Her lawyers apparently did not tell her that her testimony could have been taken privately in California,she was doxxed by someone, and her letter leaked to the press. Her accusations could have been examined confidentially, and in a timely manner. Someone decided it was to their advantage that this not happen.
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This one seems like a good choice in this case
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You do realize that’s precisely what Feinstein TRIED to do, yeah?
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I have notebooks of stuff I was working on 30 years ago. Calendars, no. Who the heck keeps calendars that long, unless they were Farside ones?
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I bet he doesn’t remember. It just wasn’t that significant an event for him. Here’s what I would have loved to ask him:
Someguy: Let’s imagine for a moment, this alleged incident from the perspective of a 17 year old boy who has had a few beers. He’s not a bad guy. He would never dream of raping someone. But it’s a teenage party, there’s some horseplay, and while the girl may have ended up frightened, but there was no ill intent. This was basically the teenage equivalent of tickling. Should that behavior, in your opinion as a judge, be enough to prevent someone from being on the supreme court?
BK (A): No it should not. [Were you listening to Ford, you asshole? you’re done.]
BK(B): I did not do this, but if I had, I shouldn’t be on the court.
SG: Do you remember everytime you have tickled someone?
BK (A): Yes. I have calendar entries. [OMG, we’re done here.]
BK(B): I am not certain.
SG: Do you, judge, think people should be held responsible for the crimes they commit even if, to them, they aren’t worth remembering?
SG: I one person says BK committed a crime, but it is the kind of crime BK might not remember having committed, what do we do?
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What scale of teenage party are we talking about?
By Carlos Sanchez
February 4, 1990The headmasters at seven of the Washington area’s most prestigious private schools have written a letter to the parents of all students warning them that students are regularly throwing large, unsupervised parties where “excessive drinking and sexual license are common.”
In what the headmasters called a rare joint effort, the letters, which were mailed Thursday, asked parents to step up supervision of their children to prevent them from attending or throwing weekend parties that are open to almost anyone and where alcohol is easily available.
The letter was written jointly “to give it more impact,” said Malcolm Coates, headmaster at Landon School in Bethesda. “The fact that seven schools decided it was enough of a problem to address it is significant.”
Individual schools have confronted the issue before. At the beginning of the school year, for example, Georgetown Preparatory School in Rockville held a conference with parents to discuss the problem of unsupervised parties and similar activities.
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Max of three rejections? I can’t imagine how that would be gamed. /s
Yes I can! Roy Moore? Rejected! Brett Kavanaugh? Rejected! Donlad Trump Jr.? Rejected! And now, my friends, I announce my 4th, rejection proof nominee!
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Ah yes, those parties!
Kavanaugh should have used the ‘we had poor parental supervision’ defense. Or, more likely, F… ugh, I can’t go there even in jest.
According to Ford, it was more of a small gathering than a big party. Since she was only 15, she was still not allowed to stay out late enough to go the the real parties.
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I would actually argue for a lesser burden of proof. He is ASKING for a lifetime appointment. Nothing will actually be taken from him. Not his freedom, not any money. So he has nothing to lose and everything to gain. There are PLENTY of other appeals court judges with similarly high academic credentials. Perhaps Substantial Evidence would be right. Because really if you think that there is a 30% chance that he did this, I think that we should get somebody else.
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A CREDIBLE accusation is not an especially easy thing to fake, as anyone who follows the work of James O’Keefe could tell you.
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Even if everything he said were true, just his behavior at the hearing should have been a dealbreaker. Dude is unhinged. We can do better than this.
BUT! he is ALSO a lying liar and a rapey rapist, on TOP of that
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