Ford Neighbors, Prof. Anguished, Energized Over Kavanaugh Vote

PALO ALTO, CA -- With this historic moment in American politics coming to a crescendo, Christine Blasey Ford’s fellow Palo Alto neighbors and regional professor believe her testimony against the nomination of incoming U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh over an alleged sexual assault wasn’t in vain.

If anything, it should mobilize a movement even further.

“I’m very sad for the whole country. It’s really made me lose confidence in Congress. He had a job interview and failed. I’d rather have her on the Supreme Court. I was so impressed with her testimony,” said Dawn Darbonne, a mother and neighbor to Ford. “But I don’t think it was in vain.

“I don’t see how we’re supposed to believe the impartiality of the Supreme Court. He’s so biased. He’s already at war with the Democrats,” she said.

Will Kavanaugh seek partisan revenge? When Ford accused him of sexually assaulting her in high school, Senate Democrats fiercely opposed his nomination to the highest court in the land.

The final U.S. Senate vote on Saturday confirming Kavanaugh was 50-48 along party lines – a process that was interrupted at least a handful of times by protesters screaming into the gallery. Two votes were not tallied. One senator was missing; the other didn't vote.

“He’s been partisan all through his career. It will be hard to figure out whether he is seeking revenge (when hearing cases) or if he’s following his own ideological inclinations,” San Jose State University political science Professor James Brent told Patch. “I’m still taken by all the parallels between this and the Clarence Thomas hearings.”

The Thomas hearings of a few decades ago pit colleague Anita Hill against the Supreme Court justice over a sexual harassment claim. It launched a women’s political movement, which was re-energized last November with Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s loss of the presidential election.

“In a ‘what changed’ context is the victims (of sexual abuse) are more impassioned because now you have a part of the national conversation and country itself divided along party lines,” Brent said.

What now?

“There’s not a lot Democrats can do until 2021 except cross their fingers and hope (Justice) Ruth Bader Ginsburg stays healthy,” Brent said, adding the movie due out around Christmas about her life will be “required viewing” for his students. “RBG,” as she is referred to in political circles, is a left-leaning judge in what now appears to be a conservative Supreme Court.

The SJSU political science expert’s suggestion to Democrats is if they win both houses of Congress this November, they should just hang tight until the general election in 2020 to elect a party president and change the rules of the Supreme Court’s size. In other words, a simple majority could increase the number of justices to even out the court.

“It certainly would be easier than impeachment,” Brent said of the option to nullify Kavanaugh’s nomination.

The professor expects Democrats to come out in full force at the ballot box. But whether that’s enough to protect Democratic cherished ideals remains to be seen.

“I certainly ultimately think his passage will motivate Democrats knowing he can simply (with a 5-4 vote) strike down any progressive legislation the Democrats pass,” he said.

Still, Palo Alto resident Jackie Wheeler has faith in the electoral process being she serves with the League of Women Voters.

“I’m terribly disappointed but unfortunately not surprised. What we have to do is get out the vote and take back Congress. We’ve got an election coming up (in November). That’s where it comes down to the bottom line. It certainly has fired a lot of people up,” Wheeler said.

--Images courtesy of Getty Images, Annika Lehes, San Jose State University