In an appearance on MSNBC, Weiss argued that the fundamental “ethical question” at issue is whether someone should be disqualified from sitting on the court because of a crime they committed as a teenager.
Weiss added that Ford’s allegations, which Kavanaugh has “unequivocally” denied, don’t fit a pattern — as many other instances of men who commit sexual misconduct do — and that the accusations can’t be proved.
“Brett Kavanaugh has a reputation as being a prince of a man, frankly, other than this,” she said. “Now, I believe her. I believe what she’s saying. I’m just saying, in the end of the day, it is one word against another.”
“We’re not talking about should he be disqualified to be a dogcatcher,” Ruhle said. “We’re talking about to be a Supreme Court justice.”
.. Weiss then seemed to back away from her assertion, but lamented that Kavanaugh’s “worst instance” was being “paraded” in public.
.. Mark Joseph Stern, a lawyer and writer for Slate, called Weiss’ question a “useless and irrelevant red herring” and argued that the question is not whether an adult should be held accountable for something they did as a teenager, but whether Kavanaugh lied about the allegations. If Weiss’ intuition is correct and Ford is telling the truth about the incident, then Kavanaugh has wrongly undermined a victim, he said.
.. “It is perfectly consistent to believe that nobody’s life should be ruined for committing a crime at age 17 — and that any adult who lies about that crime should not be elevated to the Supreme Court,”he wrote.