Dear Editor,

The way the Republicans are handling the hearing for Dr. Ford’s accusations against Brett Kavanaugh is disgusting. If they were serious about getting at the truth, they would direct the FBI to reopen the background checks of Kavanaugh in order to investigate these new revelations. This is the normal procedure in cases like this.

The FBI reopened the background checks for the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearing. Since Dr. Ford has requested that the FBI should investigate her allegations, the Republicans and Kavanaugh appear to be hiding something by refusing to reopen the background checks. Even though it is a federal crime (resulting in prison time), Dr. Ford is still pushing for an investigation which indicates that she is telling the truth.

Even worse, the Republicans insist on interviewing only two witnesses (Ford and Kavanaugh). There was a third person in the room at the time of the alleged assault, and the Republicans refuse to subpoena him. The optics surrounding this nomination are terrible. It is hard to fathom after all these years that men have not appeared to learn from past experiences. #”Me Too.”

Rene Payne

Stanford