NPR

Kavanaugh And Ford Will Testify Thursday. Here's What You Need To Know

Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination was sailing through until Christine Blasey Ford came forward with a sexual assault allegation. Get caught up on what's led to Thursday's hearing.

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, along with the American public, will for the first time on Thursday hear directly from Christine Blasey Ford, the university professor who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault when they were both teenagers in high school.

She and Kavanaugh will both testify under oath, in public. The stakes couldn't be higher; a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court may rest on whose account senators believe. Nearly 6 in 10 Americans say they plan to follow the hearings closely, with many yet to make up their minds, according to an NPR-PBS Newshour-Marist poll.

Since Ford's accusation first came to light, two other women have come forward to accuse Kavanaugh of improper sexual conduct. And while the hearing will focus on events that allegedly occurred in the 1980's, it will be viewed through the prism of America in 2018, and the deep fault lines over gender, politics and

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from NPR

NPR4 min readAmerican Government
Gaza Protestors Picket White House Correspondents Dinner, As Biden Ribs Trump
The war in Gaza spurred large protests outside a glitzy roast with President Joe Biden, journalists, politicians and celebrities Saturday but went all but unmentioned by participants inside.
NPR2 min readWorld
Hamas Releases Video Of A Second American Being Held Hostage In Gaza
Hamas has released a video showing two captives, one of them an American, as part of an effort to prove that the two men are still alive. It was the second video of a U.S. citizen released this week.
NPR3 min readAmerican Government
Trump's Immunity Arguments And The Experiences Of The Justices Who Might Support It
Five of the six conservatives spent much of their lives in the Beltway, working in the White House and Justice Department, seeing their administrations as targets of unfair harassment by Democrats.

Related Books & Audiobooks