The Case for a Local Investigation Into Brett Kavanaugh

It was “horseplay,” some have claimed. It was a youthful indiscretion committed decades ago, others have said, urging forgiveness. But the attempted sexual assault California professor Christine Blasey Ford has alleged Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh committed in 1982 could have been, if proven, a crime. In a Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Friday, Jeff Flake asked for a one-week delay before the full Senate votes on Kavanaugh's confirmation, allowing time for the FBI to launch an investigation. But regardless of whether FBI action proceeds, local or state police could investigate, too.

This week, 11 representatives from Montgomery County in the Maryland House signed a letter calling on the Montgomery County Police Department to do just that. Local police could, they say, probe Blasey Ford’s claim that, at a high school house party in Montgomery County, Maryland, she was pushed into a room by Kavanaugh or his friend Mark Judge, then pinned to a bed by Kavanaugh, who attempted to remove her clothing as he lay on top of her. Judge allegedly alternated between egging Kavanaugh on and telling him to stop as he attempted to assault her. Before more could happen, Blasey Ford says, she fled the house. But she says she remains traumatized today.