U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh faces sexual misconduct allegations from a Palo Alto University professor, who claims he groped her at a high school party in the 1980s. The allegations thwart a confirmation process that originally was seen as a done deal for Kavanaugh. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on the allegations to hear from both Kavanaugh and his accuser. The firm’s David Coale talks to WVNN Radio Host Dale Jackson about the allegations and the impact on the Senate hearings. “It puts it in some jeopardy; it introduces an element, a wild card that had not been here before” says Coale. “It puts the whole Me Too Movement into this confirmation process. What had been kind of a cut and dry discussion of constitutional law now has become something very different under a lot of media scrutiny.”
He tells Law360 that the “hearing resembles a courtroom proceeding ‘through the glass’ referring to the Lewis Carroll novel: no preparation or document requests, no corroborating witnesses and fact-finding senators that each have their own standards for whom to believe. “It puts all of your eggs on that one performance going well, a tightrope without a net under it,” Coale said.