JUDY WOODRUFF: And you are
going to want to know what to
expect from the Senate Judiciary

Committee tomorrow in the
questioning of Judge Kavanaugh
and Professor Blasey Ford.

For that now, I'm joined
by Julie Goldscheid.

She is a professor of law at
the City University of New York,
where she teaches classes on

gender and law.

She is one of several
law professors who wrote
a letter today urging
the Judiciary Committee

to further investigate the
claims made by Blasey Ford
and these other women.

Professor Goldscheid, let
me just start by asking, the
letter to the committee, what

was the point you were making
in that letter, which is
critical of how the committee is

structured tomorrow?

JULIE GOLDSCHEID, Professor
of Law, CUNY School of
Law: Yes, thank you.

The point of the letter
is really to ask the
senators to do what we
would expect any fact-finder

to do, which is to pause,
to get a full investigation,
and to assess all of the
evidence in the context

that's before the committee.

This is not a criminal case.

It's not a civil case.

It's not about evidence that's
going to be assessed based on
a preponderance of the evidence

or beyond a reasonable
doubt standard.

This is a question about
whether or not somebody
should be nominated and
appointed to the Supreme

Court, the highest
court in the country.

And for that, there are many
complex questions that I would
think the senators should be

interested in.

They should be interested in
assessing the very serious
allegations that have been made

and hearing the
nominees reflections
on those allegations.

Not only do they raise very
serious concerns, but they also
raise complex questions that

are of the type of issue --
that reflect the type of issues
that the court deals with all

the time.

And the senators should
be interested in how
the nominee reflects on
that kind of complicated

allegation and
complicated dynamic.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And I know that
you and the others who were
signing this letter were calling

for an investigation to take
place, just as Dr. Blasey Ford
and her attorney were calling

for.

But we know that there will
be, there has been no, and
won't be an FBI investigation.

They have been talking to her.

What will be missing then?

I mean, what is it -- what is
it -- what will be the role of
Rachel Mitchell, who will be

asking question for
the Republicans, and
then of the Democratic
senators in getting to the

bottom of this, as best
they can, when there has not
been an FBI investigation?

JULIE GOLDSCHEID: Right.

Well, your point
is a very good one.

Without a full investigation
for background, and without
all the witnesses who can speak

to the allegations, there's
really an incomplete
picture that will be
painted at the hearings,

by definition, unless the
senators decide to open up
the hearings to more witnesses

who can talk about their --
the accounts that they heard
about the allegations before the

- - before these hearings.

So, the task for the -- for the
hearings tomorrow is to paint
as clear and as complete and as

neutral a picture as possible
about what Dr. Ford experienced
and what the nominee, Judge

Kavanaugh, experienced,
and to hear his reflections
on these very delicate
details and difficult

allegations.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, we have
been -- her opening statement,
Christine Blasey Ford's opening

statement, has been
released, we know.

We have been able to
take a look at that.

She's pretty much giving
the same description
of what happened that
night at that party

in 1982 in that summer
that we have been told,
with a little more detail.

Given that, and given that
Judge Kavanaugh is saying he
wasn't at the party, doesn't

know her, how does any
-- how does a questioner
get to some evidence,
some information that's

going to advance
our understanding of
what really happened?

JULIE GOLDSCHEID: Yes.

Well, one thing that
the questioner can do
is can ask about both
witnesses' understandings

of some of the other information
that has come to come to light.

So, for example, if
Judge Kavanaugh says
he has no recollection,
he can be probed about

some of the other accounts that
have come forward about the
details of some of the parties

and the atmosphere and the
culture that at least many
people think took place at that

school at the time
that he was there.

So, she can get his reactions
to those -- those accounts of
what was going on at the time.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Are questions
about how much drinking did he
do, how much partying, I mean,

are those kinds of general
questions going to bring us
closer to understanding whether

this happened or not?

JULIE GOLDSCHEID: I think part
of the task is to come to as
clear an assessment of what

happened as possible.

And we know that, in many cases
like this, there are competing
versions, competing accounts

of what happened.

So, the task for the senators is
really to listen very carefully
and closely to the answers

to try to hear how much
consistency or inconsistency
there is in the respective
witnesses' reports

and to make their own
assessments, both about
what happened, but
about how the nominee's

responses bear on his ability
to serve as a Supreme Court
justice, because I really

can't underscore enough that
that's what's at issue here.

This is more akin to a job
interview than any kind of
criminal or civil proceeding.

It's really about his
qualifications for this very,
very important position.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Professor
Goldscheid, finally,
just one question.

If you were asking questions
of Judge Kavanaugh tomorrow,
what's the most important thing

you would want to know from him?

JULIE GOLDSCHEID:
Yes, good question.

I might want to know his view,
if the allegations were true,
what he -- what his views would

be about them and what he
would think about them.

I really want to hear
his thoughts about the
seriousness of sexual assault.

We know that sexual
assault is pervasive.

It continues to be pervasive,
despite all of the gains and
progress that's been made,

and I want to hear what his
assessment is of those accounts.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Julie Goldscheid,
she's a professor at the
City University of New York.

We thank you.

JULIE GOLDSCHEID: Thank you.

CUNY School of Law.

Thank you.

JUDY WOODRUFF: I'm sorry.

Thank you very much.

And a reminder: We will have
full live coverage of the Senate
Judiciary Committee hearing

with Brett Kavanaugh and
Christine Blasey Ford tomorrow.

That is starting at 10:00 a.m.

Eastern.

You can check your local PBS
station listings for more
information, or you can watch us

livestreaming.

That's online at
PBS.org/NewsHour.