Though I desperately want to be wrong, I predict:  Professor Christine Blasey Ford will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday morning about sexual assault on her person;  Judge Kavanaugh will then be confirmed for the Supreme Court by the Senate majority that same afternoon, or Friday at the latest. It will matter little what Professor Ford says. Republican Senators clearly have no interest in truth, only confirmation.

Republican partisans already argue that Ford is simply being used by the Democrats as evidenced by Senator Feinstein keeping the sexual assault charge secret until the last moment. They also claim that it doesn’t matter anyway since both were teenagers at the time.

I actually have reservations about the timing myself. And I don’t really know how I feel about the integrity of an apparently otherwise responsible adult who may have engaged in a single episode of seriously inappropriate sexual aggression as a minor. What I do know however is that the political timing is irrelevant to the charge. I also know that only a thorough unbiased investigation, including all potential witnesses testifying under oath, will establish whether Kavanaugh is guilty of anything at all, engaged in a single aggressive sexual abuse event, or demonstrated a pattern of inappropriate behavior in his youth.

Kavanaugh is being considered for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court. Given the charge against him, it seems to me Senators should be demanding to have all the facts before making such a consequential decision. If Republican Senators, including Ohio Senator Portman, opt to confirm Kavanaugh without subpoenaing testimony of all relevant witnesses, it says something ominous about the integrity of the Republican Party. Voters should take that into account when considering Republican legislative candidates on November 6th.