Anita Hill says senators should 'push the pause button' on Kavanaugh's confirmation to investigate Christine Blasey Ford's sexual assault claim

Anita Hill, who accused Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment when he was nominated to the Supreme Court in 1991, has spoken out on the recent allegation against Brett Kavanaugh — the latest nominee to America's highest court.

In an interview on "Good Morning America" Wednesday morning, Hill, now a professor at Brandeis University, said she thinks the Senate Judiciary Committee should "push the pause button" on Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings and have the FBI thoroughly investigate the claim Christine Blasey Ford has made.

Ford, a well-respected psychologist, claims that Kavanaugh attempted to rape her at a high school party in the 1980s. Kavanaugh has firmly denied the claim. Ford's lawyer said her client was willing to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, but that the FBI should conduct an investigation first.

Hill agreed with that course of action on Wednesday, saying "a neutral investigation that can pull together the facts" is "the right move" so senators can develop their questions off of that.

"Also helpful would be bringing in expert testimony or experts who can help them shape the questions that they're going to ask," Hill said. "All of this is really something that I don't think can be avoided if you really want to get to the truth."

So far, it appears that the Republican majority will not be taking that course of action. On Tuesday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said there's "no reason for any further delay" on Kavanaugh's confirmation.

Hill warns that if they push Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing through, it will come across as a "sham."

She then drew comparisons to her own testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991, which came just five days after she accused then Supreme Court-nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment in the workplace. After the highly publicized hearing, Thomas was confirmed anyway.

The committee invited Kavanaugh and Ford to testify next Monday, just a little more than a week after she publicly accused him in the Washington Post.

It is an honor and a privilege to be nominated and to serve, it is not an entitlement

Hill said "anyone who has been involved in anything similar to this" knows that it takes time to come to the truth, especially for "senators who probably know very little about these kinds of claims."

She said they should halt Kavanaugh's confirmation so they can have a hearing "that is impartial, that is not biased by politics or by myth." By pushing Kavanaugh's hearing through "at this pace," Hill said, the American people "are really under the impression that the Senate doesn't take this seriously."

Thoroughly investigating the claim is important because the outcome of the confirmation "will change the trajectories of both of their lives," Hill said. She pointed out that Ford's life has already been impacted, since she's had to move her family into hiding after receiving death threats.

It will also affect Americans at large, because of the power the Supreme Court holds.

"We are talking about an appointment for a lifetime on this nation’s highest court, making decisions that are going to affect Americans probably for decades given the value of precedent. It is an honor and a privilege to be nominated and to serve, it is not an entitlement," Hill said.

She continued: "And so a person coming into that position on the Supreme Court for a lifetime really has to have the full confidence of the American public. We need to be able to believe in the integrity of our courts, and that means believing in the integrity of the individuals who are on it."

Anita Hill says senators should 'push the pause button' on Kavanaugh's confirmation to investigate Christine Blasey Ford's sexual assault claim

It is an honor and a privilege to be nominated and to serve, it is not an entitlement

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