FILE PHOTO: Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh testifies during the third day of his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September 6, 2018. REUTERS/Alex Wroblewski/File Photo
Last updated on September 24th, 2018 at 06:44 am
So, there are many reasons why sexual assault victims do not come forward to report the assault, and young victims are even more unlikely to come forward.
But in the 1980s, when “The Accused” Brett Kavanaugh allegedly assaulted Christine Blasey Ford, his mother was working in a state‘s attorney’s office in the state where the assault took place.
In July, CBS reported:
Martha Kavanaugh became prosecutor in Montgomery County, Maryland. While in state‘s attorney’s office, she was a member of the spouse abuse commission.
Martha Kavanaugh’s biography states:
Associate Judge, Montgomery County Circuit Court, 6th Judicial Circuit, 1995 to June 2, 2001. Retired June 2, 2001.
Associate Judge, District Court of Maryland, District 6, Montgomery County, 1993-95.
Assistant State’s Attorney, Montgomery County, 1978-84. Member, Spouse Abuse Commission, Montgomery County, 1982. Member, Character Committee, Court of Appeals, 1990-93.
NPR did a handy timeline:
Summer 1982
Alleged assault. Christine Blasey Ford says this is when she was attacked by Kavanaugh. She said his friend Mark Judge was also present. Ford was 15 and Kavanaugh was 17 at the time. See below: Kavanaugh unequivocally denied the accusation when it became public, 36 years later.
The assault took place in Maryland. It’s unclear what county it took place in, but thanks to conservatives’ fake news about Blasey Ford’s parents and Brett Kavanaugh‘s mother, we are now aware that his mother was a judge in Maryland who at one point had jurisdiction over a bankruptcy of Blasey Ford’s parents. This suggests it was near where Professor Blasey Ford would have had to report the alleged assault of the prosecutor in the state‘s attorney’s office’s son, and even if not the same district, it would be likely that Kavanagh’s mother would hear about such an accusation.
Recall, if you will, the recent desperate attempt to smear Blasey Ford by the Right, as fact-checked by PolitiFact:
Blogs such as America First Media Group and The Gateway Pundit have speculated about her motives, highlighting the 1996 case involving Ford’s parents and Kavanaugh’s mother.
“Christine Ford’s Parents Paula K Blasey and Ralph G Blasey were the Defendants in a foreclosure case in Maryland in 1996,” The America First Media Group post said. “Guess who the Judge was America? None other than Brett Kavanaugh’s mother, Martha G Kavanaugh. You literally cannot make this up.”
The blog Pacific Pundit went even further. “Martha G. Kavanaugh, the mother of Brett Kavanaugh was a Maryland district judge in 1996. In an amazing coincidence, Martha Kavanaugh was the judge in a foreclosure case in which Christine Blasey-Ford’s parents were the defendants. Now it all becomes clear,” the blog wrote. “Blasey-Ford is going after Brett Kavanaugh, not because of what he did in high school. Instead, Christine Blasey-Ford is going after Brett Kavanaugh out of spite and revenge for a case rulled (sic) on by Brett Kavanaugh mother.”
Of course, like so many fake news desperations, this one took a right turn to fail. “They found that the Blaseys settled with their mortgage lender, and the bank requested Martha Kavanaugh dismiss the case. She did. They found no evidence that the Blaseys appeared in her courtroom.”
This suggests nothing, except that it’s likely Brett Kavanaugh‘s mother would have heard about any reports made against her son — and this alone could have been enough to silence the victim.
However, victims do not need the threat of a high placed, powerful judge or state’s attorney office prosecutor as parent to the alleged perpetrator to silence them. Statistically speaking, only 35% of rapes are even reported and even less by young people.
Additionally, this was the 1980s, way before the #MeToo movement, and reporting was not kind to victims. Apparently, it is still not kind to victims. See above for proof.
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