If there is a legal (criminal or civil suit) claim to be made against anyone, the place, whether years earlier or now has always been the courts. That was not done because hearsay evidence and he-said she-said claims do not make a convincing case - beyond a shadow of a doubt. The women “coming forward” and their “lawyers” know it, and know their cases never would or will be won in the courts.
That leaves the real purpose of using the venue of the Senate hearings as the venue of preference for these claims. They cannot be proved or disproved in the Senate but no matter what will use the “guilty until proven innocent” standard to taint now and forever the reputations of the accused. THAT is the only thing to be “accomplished” and its purpose is just 100% political.
Let these women take their cases to the courts if they dare. Should they win - highly doubtful - the Senate always has the possibility of impeaching any appointed official for lying in any hearing in which they testified to the Senate.
No chance any of these women will do that. They don’t want their accusations judged in court. They just want to get away with making them without them ever be proved.
Nor do they want to be deposed.
The deposition process can lead to things that would show what kind of people they are.
Nor do they want to be deposed.
The deposition process can lead to things that would show what kind of people they are.
That is why from the get go anyone making a claim like this needs to be referred to law enforcement that had jurisdiction at the time. Only if there is a conviction should anything like this be brought into hearings. Otherwise there is no fairness to the accused, no presumed innocence. Important elements our system is supposed to stand for are missing.