The no holds barred battle between the Kavs and the Kavanauts took an unexpected turn as the woman who accused Brett Kavanaugh of a sexual assault during their high school years has dropped her anonymity. Christine Blasey Ford told her story to WaPo over the weekend (“I thought he might inadvertently kill me”), and is willing to testify before Congress. Kavanaugh also has indicated a willingness to speak to the committee and insists there is no truth to claims: “I have never done anything like what the accuser describes — to her or to anyone. Because this never happened, I had no idea who was making this accusation until she identified herself yesterday.”

+ Susan Collins: “Professor Ford and Judge Kavanaugh should both testify under oath before the Judiciary Committee.” As the Dems try to delay the vote and the GOP tries to move things along, here’s the latest on the Kavanaugh confirmation.

+ With this accusation, the MeToo movement has collided head-on with the future of women’s rights in America. Garrett Epps in The Atlantic: The Subtext of Kavanaugh’s Nomination Bursts Into the Open. “The gendered subtext of this moment is, not to put too fine a point on it, war—war to the knife—over the future of women’s autonomy in American society.”