What Kavanaugh case means for 'innocent until proven guilty'
In the Senate standoff over confirming Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court, two paradigms are hurtling toward each other in a clash: the age-old legal standard that someone must be presumed innocent until proven guilty, and the new #MeToo social norm that accusers of sexual assault should be believed.
One standard would absolve Judge Kavanaugh; the other could doom his nomination.
These two views butted heads on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. Sen. Patty Murray (D) of Washington told host Chuck Todd that “I think it's really important, in this time, in this day, that we recognize when women speak out, that we should presume that they are innocent.”
Her Republican colleague, Sen. David Perdue (R) of Georgia, however, sided with the legal standards
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