That’s the title of
my latest article in The Hill. Most of it is an explanation of how Senators who haven’t made up their minds (are there any left?) should use the pattern jury instructions on credibility of witnesses as a guide when listening to the witnesses on Thursday. Here’s the intro:
The news cycle on the pending Brett Kavanaugh nomination is minute to minute. Despite the many moving parts, Kavanaugh has adamantly denied the accusations even as they continue to come in. Although some Senators have locked themselves into a position of either believing Kavanaugh or of believing his accusers, there are still some who want to see how the hearing plays out. For those open-minded Senators and for those of you who haven't made up your mind yet, below are five simple guidelines to help you judge the credibility of the witnesses who testify.
Here is one of the questions:
Did the witness have the opportunity and ability to accurately observe the things he or she testified about? Here, Republicans will question Ramirez about how much she had to drink and whether she can accurately say what really happened. As for Ford, Republicans will also question her about how much she had to drink at the party where she admits that everyone had at least one beer. Regarding Kavanaugh, there are reports that he was a heavy drinker in high school and college, and Ford says that he was "stumbling drunk" at the party. Democrats are sure to question him about these claims.
34 comments:
You're analyzing a shitshow as if it's a real search for truth. Btw looks like the recovered memory lefty activist Ramirez is out. So much for that analysis. And Dr Blasey-Fraud looking shaky to appear also.
We have now entered the twilight zone.
It is painful to suggest an innocent person should just bow to the pressure, but we do that here everyday and call it a win most of the time.
Trump will nominate Judge Barret just to be safe and the Reps will have to confirm her by x-mas. A Scalia clerk, she will be even more conservative than Kav and much younger, for those wandering how long she would hold that seat.
An investigation into each of the Kav accusers should still take place.
6:47:
Oh Oh. You spoke to soon.
Sworn affidavit by person with security clearance placing Judge K in house parties where he and his and his boys engaged in gang rapes of drug girls.(sworn affidavit means in can be introduced as evidence).
In the words of Lindsey Graham during Clinton impeachment: "This is not about punishment, it is about cleansing the office, it is about restoring honor and integrity to the office."
6:47 is clearly not the target audience of DOM's article.
who's next? kavanaugh doesn't get confirmed, would you want him on the bench with you and have protests outside ussct everyday? so Trump should pick a woman. try to screen them thoroughly and find one who was a virgin until marriage, never led a guy on, never let a man open a door for her or buy her dinner, a woman who neither performs or receives oral sex, never used her looks to get a job, never came on to a teacher to get a better grade, does not fart, has never been overweight, did not attend parties where her friends were drugged and then went back to the same parties, has never used profanity, sped, withheld bruton material, never paid a bill late, was late to class, never experimented in college with another woman while drunk, has never drank, does not wear too much makeup,shaves her legs and armpits, does not wear cologne to excess, plays golf and tennis and has never belonged to a segregated private club, has pointy nipples and medium sized breasts, has a pet, loves to travel, is conservative republican and will eat pizza occasionally.
3:59- you're comment is so wrong. How can you equate an allegation of rape with wearing cologne and eating pizza. I hope you don't have any daughters. I pray for you.
What a crazy coincidence that all 3 women just happened to grow up to be left-wing political activists.
sorry 447 but I was never smart enough to practice in federal court. I guess my spontaneous, not edited and redrafted several times,effort at pointing out that whomever is nominated will be castigated and if they have not made mistakes they will make stuff up. an appellate judge gets through 6 FBI background checks, nobody in the bureau smart enough to think that rich white kids at an all boys school away from home might drink and chase girls. so this was known and covered up. I guess you are one of those attorneys who never smoked pot, did coke, committed adultery etc. I do not need your prayers because you are the type that totally misinterpreted the sarcasm and attempt at humor and the attempt to point out the absurdity of senate hearings. more time will be spent on whether a judicial nominee is perfect that the senate will spend on doing something about the issue that guarantees your job; the never ending supply of minority youth raised in poverty without a father and allowed to drop out of school . touche!
Imagine what the win/lose stats would like like if they didn’t have the low hanging fruit to boost their numbers, they would get even more desperate and misconduct cases would stand out more.
Garland.
NOBODY did this to Judge Garland. His nomination was rejected by the Majority due to a previous power/timing inbalance first introduced by Joe Biden.
The same Joe Biden that ridiculed the results of the previous FBI investigation because it didn't favor his political agenda and whom denied (now) Justice Thomas a committee vote.
This is a drive-by shooting, facts don't matter, neither does any resemblance of due process.
Stop watch Fox news.
1. All Biden said is that the FBI reports do not state conclusions; they gather facts. That is true. Also he made the point because Hatch violated an agreement to not use the reports in the way he did. Because the GOP cheats as always.
2. Facts do matter. That's why the DEM is asking for an investigation.
3. There is no due process right at a committee hearing. This is a job interview.
7:14 -
"[Garland's] nomination was rejected by the Majority due to a previous power/timing inbalance first introduced by Joe Biden"
Wow! What a load of B.S.
GOP came up with a new "rule" that never existed. No doubt they will cry crocodile tears when that rule gets used against a GOP nominee.
Its amazing how partisan some of you are. Its like a team sport to you people. You assume that just because someone says that a member of your team did something bad, that the accuser must themselves be a bad person - a liar, a partisan shill, or otherwise of improper motivation. What support do you have for those conclusions? I have no idea whether any of the accusers are telling the truth (or the truth as they remember it, which may be an honest misrecollection of the facts), but I haven't seen any facts that call into question their honesty. In fact, I think Ford's position seems reasonable - she mentioned her recollection of the event years ago to her physiologist (who has contemporaneous notes) and now she brings it to the public because she says that she feels she has a civic duty to do so. Is that so hard to believe? Did none of you watch Mr. Smith Goes to Washington in 8th grade Civics class?
For a lot of reasons (is her honest memory accurate? Does Kavanaugh's behavior as a minor reflect his adult character? etc), I am not sure that her accusations should be enough to end Kavanaugh's appointment to the court. But I have seen nothing that suggests that she is lying.
I prosecuted and defended sex crimes, not good at it as a prosecutor pretty good at it as a defense attorney. had to cross a teenage girl who my client admitted to having intercourse with 10 times-she 11 he 47. turned down 10 years, got life, then filed 3.850 against me. had a capital sex battery as prosecutor-only got a year in jail for guy who digitally penetrated his 2 and 4 year olds. how to put a child of that age on the stand and how do you counter mother telling them to lie. had a case where a teenage girl had a crush on the maintenance man at her apt. so she is accused him of a sex crime. on tv and front page of paper. lost his job. i did the intake. told them to reinterview girl, things did not add up. upon reinterview admitted to lying. these cases SUCK.hardly ever know who is telling truth. look at all the false accusations against athletes. in my not so humble opinion-after all i was a trial lawyer and i blog- THIS KAVANAUGH THING is payback for what the Republican did to Garland's nomination and the attempts to bring down Trump is payback for the Clinton impeachment for cheating on his ugly bitch of a wife with a naive willing adult.
10:56, right on.
9:02, lol to Fox News. Its CNN lite except at nite. As probably the most right wing person to ever comment on this blog, I loathe Fox.
Dems are winning this hearing so far, and bigly! Reps shoulda hired a defense atty who knows how to cross. Gotta get pointed with this lady, she has tons of holes and inconsistencies in her story from 1982 til now. This AZ ASA sucks so far tho the format is absurd with this 5 minute nonsense.
The 'Biden rule': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVvxGa0zhWo
To Harry Reid, for starting downhill with the 'nuclear option'.. be careful what you wish for! Trump/Grassley will get Amy Barret seated by x-mas, regardless of the midterm results.
OTOH, she does sound credible. Appears that the weaponization of the allegation rests squarely on Feinstein.
Mitchell is either a plant, an idiot who thinks this is a depo, or a genius building up to something big. I'm thinking number one. Especially considering senator flake is who recommended her. Wish graham and a couple others had not ceded their time-- graham was a criminal defense atty and seems to be itching to get involved--and right now they do too. The witness strikes me as a fake child-acting socio (or maybe she's just semi-retarded) but u gotta get a bit rough with her to bring it out. This ASA is waaay too friendly and comfortable with her. Kava ship be sinking. Barrett may be nominee by tomm nite
You sir are a piece of shit.
"The witness strikes me as a fake child-acting socio (or maybe she's just semi-retarded) but u gotta get a bit rough with her to bring it out."
122, that's what we do as defense attys when a witness is trying to destroy our client's life. We have to challenge them pointedly. Do u seriously not understand that? I stand by remarks that she either seems fake or borderline stupid
My advice to Brett Kavanaugh before he testifies: Run!
Claim that you are pulling out to protect your family, the country, the Supreme Court.
Claim that you are a victim as much as Dr. Ford and Leave!
If you testify, you may get impeached and then have to go to work on Fox News.
Like Kenny Rogers sang: "You gotta know when to fold 'em, when to walk away . . . "
Listen to Kenny, Brett, fold 'em and walk away.
1:39 - Even the hardest of hardliners on Fox News describe her as a compelling, credible witness.
But, to the misguided point I think you were trying to make, they should have hired a professional cross-examiner (a criminal defense lawyer) and not someone who is used to building the credibility of sexual abuse victims.
He came out throwing haymakers. Whoa
Kavanaugh's statement is very powerful. But it feels like he has (rightly) become too angry and personally politicized by this to be an impartial supreme court justice. This feels like a lose-lose for Kavanaugh and Ford and for the future of the Court.
The Democratic senators should all cede their time to the prosecutor also bc kava is going to hurt them if they come at him...great theater regardless but damn if he's really innocent feel horrible for the guy. What a thing to go through.. my goodness this is a brutal deal
Kavs revealing himself as right wing partisan he is.
Partisan?
Kavanaugh has been a right wing warrior for many, many years. In his opening statement, he asserted this was payback for his work against the Clintons. So yes he's a partisan.
He's been the subject of a partisan attack. Would you just take the 5th and not respond? Wait, this is not a court of Law.
He will be confirmed. And now you should really pray that RBG makes it to 2020.
RBG will regret taking Trump for granted and not stepping down when it was safe to do so.
Sleep on this stat: Republican Presidents nominated 17 of the last 22 SC Justices.
Garland
Questions I would have like to have seen the Republicans ask: Did you tell any of the girls at the party what had just happened? excited utterance admissible hearsay exception. Did you have any scratches or bruises-when you got home did you check? How long did it take you to get home, what path did you take? Did you ever consider calling 911? Describe in detail your relationship with your parents to justify why you were afraid to tell them a boy tried to rape you? remember Tawana Brawley case. Why is a woman of this age and education talking like a teenage girl and so upset-she's had counseling-it happened 36 years ago-seems like acting. Why take a polygraph? The handwritten note looked suspicious. Why only 2 polygraph questions. I took one once- about 10 questions-results inconclusive. Why her attorney making sure to have the perfect seat to have their mugs on tv for the whole testimony of Kavanaugh-unprofessional, went out of their way to say pro bono- in it for fame, money, book and tv deal. the heroic woman who brings down supreme court nominee, me too etc. the amount of evidence this woman has would cause the average sex crimes prosecutor to consider the person has mental issues and is filing a false police report if this evidence were brought to them 36 years later in a state with no statute of limitations. that is a partial 1/10th of what I could say from the defense vantage point. from Kavanaugh- his reaction whenever alcohol was brought up was very disturbing and enlightening-he said in a speech what happens at that school stays at the school, picture of him drunk and with tongue out. He was an out of control drunk, almost certainly did it, it can't be proven unless the guy in the room gives back the hush money or is subpoened or interviewed by fbi, and if this guy get on the bench he will be picketed, followed, threatened 10x worse than Blackmun ever had to put up with for authoring Roe opinion. pick a woman , let's move on, and start solving domestic problems- I think we can all agree there a quite a few. the readers of this blog make their living on the conspiracy in our society to not solve domestic social problems that are capable of being drammatically reduced, not solved entirely but at least cut by 50-80 %. Do judges really want to do civil as opposed to criminal.?
He's a liar. Vote NO.
Hahaha dems...Kava and Graham ran a train on ur team yesterday...sotomayer just a sugar binge away and rgb may already be dead. What a glorious fight from kava, warmed my cold right wing heart...hahahahaha u fuckers know this was all b.s. love seeing ur heads explode!
@9:51 - You're not an American. You're a republican. Have you noticed? Do you understand the difference? There are democrats that have the same problem. But perhaps you should take a look at yourself before looking at others.
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