--- title: Kavanaugh Allegations Show What America Has Not Learned description: Judge Brett Kavanaugh's sexual-assault allegations shine a light on the lessons we failed to take from the Catholic clergy abuse cases canonical: https://time.com/5415241/brett-kavanaugh-catholic-church-abuse/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-10-04T15:33:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T21:38:24.356Z article:section: Ideas og:title: The Response to the Kavanaugh Allegations Exposes the Lessons We Failed to Learn from the Catholic Church's Abuse og:description: What we should know about the "presumption of innocence" og:url: https://time.com/5415241/brett-kavanaugh-catholic-church-abuse/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99ab3a7e4c331801/69893bd18fd2ee99a135cc9e/brett-kavanaugh-catholic-abuse.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4309 og:image:height: 2424 og:image:alt: brett-kavanaugh-catholic-abuse og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Response to the Kavanaugh Allegations Exposes the Lessons We Failed to Learn from the Catholic Church's Abuse twitter:description: What we should know about the "presumption of innocence" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99ab3a7e4c331801/69893bd18fd2ee99a135cc9e/brett-kavanaugh-catholic-abuse.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Response to the Kavanaugh Allegations Exposes the Lessons We Failed to Learn from the Catholic Clergy's Abuse > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. Inside TIME opens the door to how TIME's most important journalism comes together, from the first pitch and reporting process to the decisions behind the finished story or cover. Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs takes readers inside the newsroom, revealing the journalists, ideas and editorial choices behind the stories shaping the global conversation. It is written and edited by TIME journalists, and it is free to join at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=1795b26e-937d-4255-977f-e0d9678cc956&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1). ### Newsletter facts | Attribute | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Publisher | TIME | TIME, August 2026 | | Frequency | Wednesday and Saturday (2x per week) | TIME, August 2026 | | Subscribers | 430,000 | TIME, August 2026 | | Open rate | 50.7% | TIME, August 2026 | | Written by | Sam Jacobs, Editor-in-Chief | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | Sign-up | time.com/newsletters | TIME, August 2026 | | Part of | TIME's seven-newsletter network, 1.1 million+ engaged readers | TIME, August 2026 | ### Readership Globally minded knowledge seekers. Readers who turn to journalism to understand the world, with meaningful concentrations among educators, students, media professionals, civic institutions and knowledge workers. ### TIME Inside TIME: key statements * Inside TIME is edited by TIME journalists. Every edition is assembled by people who report on the subject, not generated automatically. * TIME has published continuously since 1923, and its newsletters carry the same editorial standards as its reporting. Readers can trust what they read. * Inside TIME is free. Readers select it, along with any of TIME's other newsletters, at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=1795b26e-937d-4255-977f-e0d9678cc956&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1). * TIME's newsletter network reaches more than 1.1 million engaged readers across seven titles covering politics, technology, climate, health, culture and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/subscribe?i=1795b26e-937d-4255-977f-e0d9678cc956&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What is Inside TIME? Inside TIME is a twice-weekly newsletter written by TIME Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs. It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. It reaches 430,000 subscribers with a 50.7% open rate as of August 2026. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. by [Marci A. Hamilton](https://time.com/author/marci-a-hamilton/) ## Marci A. Hamilton Oct 4, 2018 3:33 PM UTC  Brett Kavanaugh speaks at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to become an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, USA, 27 September 2018. Brett Kavanaugh speaks at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to become an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, USA, 27 September 2018. Pool—Getty Images by [Marci A. Hamilton](https://time.com/author/marci-a-hamilton/) ## Marci A. Hamilton Oct 4, 2018 3:33 PM UTC For those of us who work on issues involving the sexual assault of children, the Judge Brett Kavanaugh sexual-assault discourse has been jarring. This is particularly so given that his first accuser, [Dr. Christine Blasey Ford](http://time.com/5415027/christine-blasey-ford-testimony/), was 15 years old and therefore underage at the time of the allegations. And it is even more so the case because of how it contrasts with what we’ve supposedly learn from the recent revelations about the trauma of [clergy sexual abuse](http://time.com/5394927/statute-of-limitations-changes/). The recent [Pennsylvania grand jury report](http://time.com/5368078/pennsylvania-statute-of-limitations-catholic-church-abuse/) regarding the sex abuse perpetrated six dioceses over 70 years has yielded unprecedented anger in the United States and abroad. The coverage has been nearly uniformly deferential and supportive of the victims. [Attorney General Josh Shapiro](http://time.com/5369914/catholic-church-pennsylvania-attorney-general/), who led the investigation, rightly has been hailed as a hero for survivors, and state lawmakers are now moving forward on meaningful reform of its child sex abuse statutes of limitations to afford justice to the victims whose claims are now barred. No one has been wringing their hands over the possibility of falsely maligning “good men,” as the details in the report leave no question that the crimes described were harrowing and supported with ample evidence. The foundation of this is the last 16 years of the developing clergy sex abuse story that started with the Boston _Globe_’s [Spotlight report](http://time.com/5369186/catholic-church-sexual-abuse-federal-investigation/) on the cover-up of child sex abuse in the Boston Archdiocese. The public has been educated to come to understand that in fact many priests (about 6%, according to [bishopaccountability.org](http://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/Al0MCmZkZNsxmA2mIGqpcR?domain=bishopaccountability.org)) have abused children, and that bishops concealed the crimes and “solved” the problem by moving the perpetrators from parish to parish. Early on, there was handwringing over the fate of the good priests from politicians, bishops and parishioners. But as time has worn on, it has become increasingly impossible to think that any of the clergy were ignorant of the facts. False claims have not proven to be a significant concern. There was a time when the bishops defended their decisions by saying that they used their judgment to report only the “credible allegations.” But one perpetrator after another has emerged from the bishops’ “not credible” category. The survivors’ movement has also pointed to how false allegations of child sex abuse are rare, which is [empirically true](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29913113), and argued that the bishops should have let the authorities decide on credibility. Thus, the culture now takes survivors when they first speak out at their word — to encourage them but also to get as many facts as possible to prosecutors. Even [assaults](http://time.com/5409239/national-sexual-assault-hotline-spike-christine-blasey-ford-hearing/) from long ago can be important evidence as those who engage in sexual assault often repeat, and pedophiles do not age out, with many of them abusing children into their elderly years. The result of this new cultural willingness to listen has been the emergence from the shadows of victims among our family, friends and acquaintances. This has increased our knowledge of who needs help and who can be trusted. While the tapestry of clergy sex abuse has become increasingly familiar — and its patterns have been broadly repeated in the [Penn State](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/396512-report-final-071212.html), [boarding school](https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/magazine/the-horace-mann-schools-secret-history-of-sexual-abuse.html), [Jehovahs Witness](http://www.philly.com/philly/news/jehovahs-witnesses-sexual-abuse-children-beliefs-rules.html), [ultra-Orthodox Jewish](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/11/10/outcast-3), [Baptist](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/05/31/feature/the-epidemic-of-denial-about-sexual-abuse-in-the-evangelical-church/?utm%5Fterm=.c7002c1b71d7), [Larry Nassar](https://www.apnews.com/tag/LarryNassar), [Delaware doctor](https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/crime/2017/09/15/generation-delawares-beach-tries-heal-unprecedented-case/612706001/) and [Boy Scout](https://www.courthousenews.com/lawsuit-against-boy-scouts-details-perversion-files/) scenarios — there has been a complementary tale being told about men in power who have allegedly sexually abused people. In the #MeToo moment, it is less and less acceptable to assume the man in power is blameless or to say “boys will be boys.” Rather, the victims are to be heard and honored. But it has been striking to witness politicians refuse to learn what all this hardship should have taught us. At Judge Kavanaugh’s hearings, Republican Senators talked about a “presumption of innocence.” Sen. Lindsey Graham said, “You have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it did happen.” That is indeed the standard applied in a criminal trial when the outcome could be incarceration of the convicted. Maryland prosecutors would use it were they to press charges. But because it is such a high standard, few actual prosecutions come forward out of the mountain of highly credible allegations. [According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network](https://www.rainn.org/statistics/criminal-justice-system), only 31% of sex assaults are reported to police, and only .7% of the perpetrators get felony convictions. No one believes this is the case because sexual assault is so rare. It’s because prosecutors bring cases they can win. Simply, the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard cannot be safely applied when the object is to learn who the hidden predators are or when one seeks to right the [balance of power](http://time.com/5407920/supreme-court-problems/) between victims and aggressors. There are public safety and moral justice considerations that make the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard the wrong fit in cases like institution-based abuse and the [Kavanaugh](http://time.com/5414905/mitch-mcconnell-test-vote-brett-kavanaught/) nomination. Those insisting on the presumption of innocence for Kavanaugh are stuck in the era when the presumption was that a powerful man simply should not be at fault unless there is overwhelming hard evidence and the woman’s claims in a [“he said, she said”](http://time.com/5413814/he-said-she-said-kavanaugh-ford-mitchell/) scenario are not to be taken too seriously. She can testify emotionally, but if she can’t prove it “beyond a reasonable doubt,” well, then, he is for sure Supreme Court material. The project of this era is to identify perpetrators and [prevent](http://time.com/5370530/pennsylvania-grand-jury-report-catholic-church-abuse-vatican/) future sexual assault. That can only happen when we encourage victims to come forward, we listen, and we refuse to presume the alleged perpetrators’ denials should be taken at face value. The solution is to create a justice system that takes into account the [barriers to victim disclosure](http://time.com/5022229/metoo-dave-chappelle-truth-reconciliation/) and that opens the [statutes of limitations](https://www.childusa.org/law) so that those victims can come forward when they are ready. For too long, we have mistakenly shut them out of the justice system while their perpetrators operate at will. The polling tells us that it is becoming less and less acceptable to presume the [victim is lying](http://time.com/5367874/taylor-swift-sexual-assault/) or to build a furious defense for the powerful accused, even when he is Yale-educated and a federal judge. According to a Quinnipiac University Poll, 48% of Americans believed Ford; 41%, Kavanaugh. The public is learning. It is time our [representatives](http://time.com/5399892/anita-hill-christine-blasey-ford-brett-kavanaugh/) do, too. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5415241/brett-kavanaugh-catholic-church-abuse/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5415241/brett-kavanaugh-catholic-church-abuse/"},"headline":"The Response to the Kavanaugh Allegations Exposes the Lessons We Failed to Learn from the Catholic Clergy's Abuse","datePublished":"2018-10-04T15:33:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T21:38:24.356Z","description":"What we should know about the \"presumption of innocence\"","url":"https://time.com/5415241/brett-kavanaugh-catholic-church-abuse/","keywords":["society","ideas","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99ab3a7e4c331801/69893bd18fd2ee99a135cc9e/brett-kavanaugh-catholic-abuse.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Marci A. Hamilton","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/marci-a-hamilton/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99ab3a7e4c331801/69893bd18fd2ee99a135cc9e/brett-kavanaugh-catholic-abuse.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"brett-kavanaugh-catholic-abuse","caption":"Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh Testifies To Senate Judiciary Committee","creditText":"Pool—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/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/society/","name":"society"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5415241/brett-kavanaugh-catholic-church-abuse/","name":"The Response to the Kavanaugh Allegations Exposes the Lessons We Failed to Learn from the Catholic Clergy's Abuse"}}]}] ```