Video Shows Christine Blasey Ford's Attorney Saying Kavanaugh Testimony Was Politically Motivated

A video circulating on social media shows Christine Blasey Ford's attorney telling attendees at a feminist conference that her client's testimony against now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was a politically motivated move to protect Roe v. Wade.

Conservatives are railing against comments attorney Debra Katz made in April in her keynote address at the University of Baltimore's Feminist Legal Theory Conference regarding Kavanaugh's controversial Supreme Court confirmation process. Katz represented Ford, who testified at a public hearing and accused Trump's nominee, at the time a U.S. Court of Appeals judge, of sexually assaulting her 36 years prior while the two were in high school. Katz's comments at the conference appeared to confirm many conservatives' accusations that Ford's testimony was intended in part to protect the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that established abortion access as a constitutional right.

Speaking on the theme of "Applied Feminism and #MeToo" earlier this year, Katz told attendees: "In the aftermath of these hearings, I believe that Christine's testimony brought about more good than the harm misogynist Republicans caused by allowing Kavanaugh on the court."

The self-proclaimed "women's rights and social justice activist" continued: "We were going to have a conservative [justice] ... Elections have consequences, but he will always have an asterisk next to his name. When he takes a scalpel to Roe v. Wade, we will know who he is, we know his character, and we know what motivates him, and that is important; it is important that we know, and that is part of what motivated Christine."

The Republican-controlled Senate ultimately voted to confirm Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court in October, but not before Ford and other women came forward with damning accusations. Two other accusers, Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick also alleged separate instances of sexual assault by Kavanaugh.

Kavanaugh responded to the accusations in his own testimony at the confirmation hearing and claimed Senate Democrats and the media were on a "search and destroy" mission to prevent him from joining the country's top court. A supplemental FBI investigation into the sexual assault accusations was unable to verify the allegations made by Ford.

American Lawyer Magazine reporter Ryan Lovelace authored a book released last week entitled, Search and Destroy: Inside the Campaign against Brett Kavanaugh, portraying Katz as a partisan, politically-motivated feminist who encouraged Ford to smear Kavanaugh.

Kavanaugh was confirmed in a 50-48 Senate vote on October 6, immediately following the investigation. Lovelace's book claims Katz was angry at the white men in charge of the Senate confirmation process and had a partisan axe to grind by trying to keep a conservative off the court.

In Lovelace's words: "Ford's audience was not the Senate, as Katz had previously suggested, but the American people. If they could be persuaded that Justice Kavanaugh was a predator, then they might not accept a future ruling by the five Republican-appointed justices altering the right to obtain an abortion established by Roe v. Wade. Had the Senate understood Ford's real motivation, as described by Katz, it might have appreciated more fully the pressure that 'organized forces' were applying."

Conservatives and supporters of Kavanaugh's appointment have responded to the video of Katz's comments by labeling it "chilling" and calling Ford's motivations into question.

Speaking on Fox & Friends last Thursday, Lovelace said his reporting for the book revealed that Katz was dishonest last September when she said Ford was "ambivalent" about the politics behind the Kavanaugh confirmation. Lovelace said Katz's comments show Ford was likely attempting to "taint" any future opinions or rulings Kavanaugh may have regarding abortion rights or Roe v. Wade.