Kavanaugh sexual assault hearing evokes early Soviet mock trials

Across the world, allegations of sexual assault have hinged on women’s credibility. Michael Reynolds/Pool Photo via AP.

Before last week’s Senate judiciary hearing into sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was scheduled, Republican Senator John Cornyn complained that the proceedings would amount to a “show trial” – a public spectacle with a predetermined outcome rather than a serious inquiry into the truth, writes Erica Stone Drennan.

Last week’s riveting testimonies by Kavanaugh and his accuser, 51-year-old psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford, did at times remind me of early Soviet mock trials, the focus of my dissertation research as a scholar of Russian literature and culture.