--- title: Kavanaugh Accuser's Lawyer Criticizes Hearing 'Rush' description: Christine Blasey Ford's lawyer criticized the "rush to a hearing" on Ford's sexual assault accusation against Brett Kavanaugh. canonical: https://time.com/5401325/christine-blasey-ford-brett-kavanaugh-hearing-rush/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-09-19T23:55:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T21:29:15.339Z article:section: Politics og:title: Christine Blasey Ford's Lawyer Criticizes 'Rush to a Hearing' on Kavanaugh Accusations og:description: "The rush to a hearing is unnecessary" og:url: https://time.com/5401325/christine-blasey-ford-brett-kavanaugh-hearing-rush/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5f9eb7e7623b507/69893ab17cdbac7183d5df98/christine-blasey-ford-kavanaugh-hearing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2737 og:image:height: 1540 og:image:alt: KAVANUAGH og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Christine Blasey Ford's Lawyer Criticizes 'Rush to a Hearing' on Kavanaugh Accusations twitter:description: "The rush to a hearing is unnecessary" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5f9eb7e7623b507/69893ab17cdbac7183d5df98/christine-blasey-ford-kavanaugh-hearing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Christine Blasey Ford's Lawyer Criticizes 'Rush to a Hearing' on Kavanaugh Accusations > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Sep 19, 2018 11:55 PM UTC  President Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh listens during his conformation hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill on Sept. 4, 2018, in Washington, D.C. President Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh listens during his conformation hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill on Sept. 4, 2018, in Washington, D.C. Salwan Georges—The Washington Post/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Sep 19, 2018 11:55 PM UTC An attorney for Christine Blasey Ford said Wednesday that the plan to move forward with a hearing about her client’s [sexual assault accusation](http://time.com/5397772/brett-kavanaugh-christine-blasey-ford-accusation/) against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh “is not a fair or good faith investigation.” Ford, a California professor, accused Kavanaugh of attempting to sexually assault her nearly 40 years ago at a high school party. Kavanaugh has denied the allegation, calling it “completely false.” The Senate Judiciary Committee [scheduled a public hearing](http://time.com/5398806/senate-public-hearing-kavanaugh-accuser-christine-blasey-ford/) about the accusation for Monday. While [Ford’s lawyers said](http://time.com/5397987/brett-kavanaugh-assault-testify-publicly/) she is willing to testify publicly about the incident, they [told the Committee](http://time.com/5400239/christine-blasey-ford-investigation-letter/) on Tuesday that Ford wants the FBI to investigate the allegation first. But Senate Republicans said the hearing would proceed as planned on Monday. “She continues to believe that a full non-partisan investigation of this matter is needed and she is willing to cooperate with the Committee,” Ford’s attorney, Lisa Banks, said in a statement Wednesday night. “However, the Committee’s stated plan to move forward with a hearing that has only two witnesses is not a fair or good faith investigation; there are multiple witnesses whose names have appeared publicly and should be included in any proceeding. The rush to a hearing is unnecessary, and contrary to the Committee discovering the truth.” Republicans have rejected calls for an FBI investigation. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley [tweeted](https://twitter.com/ChuckGrassley/status/1042434131441922050) Wednesday that “no other OUTSIDE investigation is necessary.” Earlier on Wednesday, [President Trump defended Kavanaugh](http://time.com/5400582/brett-kavanaugh-donald-trump-sexual-misconduct/) as an “extraordinary man” and [called on Ford to testify](http://time.com/5400562/donald-trump-christine-blasey-ford-congress-kavanaugh/) before the Senate Judiciary Committee. “If she shows up, that would be wonderful. If she doesn’t show up, that would be unfortunate,” Trump said. “But I can only say this: He is such an outstanding man. Very hard for me to imagine that anything happened,” he added. Banks said Ford has received threats in the days since her name became public. “Dr. Ford was reluctantly thrust into the public spotlight only two days ago. She is currently unable to go home, and is receiving ongoing threats to her and her family’s safety,” Banks said in Wednesday’s statement. “Fairness and respect for her situation dictate that she should have time to deal with this.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5401325/christine-blasey-ford-brett-kavanaugh-hearing-rush/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5401325/christine-blasey-ford-brett-kavanaugh-hearing-rush/"},"headline":"Christine Blasey Ford's Lawyer Criticizes 'Rush to a Hearing' on Kavanaugh Accusations","datePublished":"2018-09-19T23:55:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T21:29:15.339Z","description":"\"The rush to a hearing is unnecessary\"","url":"https://time.com/5401325/christine-blasey-ford-brett-kavanaugh-hearing-rush/","keywords":["Supreme Court","Congress","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5f9eb7e7623b507/69893ab17cdbac7183d5df98/christine-blasey-ford-kavanaugh-hearing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5f9eb7e7623b507/69893ab17cdbac7183d5df98/christine-blasey-ford-kavanaugh-hearing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"KAVANUAGH","caption":"KAVANUAGH","creditText":"Salwan Georges—The Washington Post/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/supreme-court/","name":"Supreme Court"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5401325/christine-blasey-ford-brett-kavanaugh-hearing-rush/","name":"Christine Blasey Ford's Lawyer Criticizes 'Rush to a Hearing' on Kavanaugh Accusations"}}]}] ```