The GOP response to the Kavanaugh allegations sends an unmistakable message to women.

Antonin Scalia’s seat on the Court had been empty for nearly a year—thanks to GOP obstruction—when President Donald Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch. Kavanaugh was nominated less than two weeks after Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement. When the National Archives said it could not produce all the documents related to Kavanaugh’s work in government in time for a vote before the November election, Senate Republicans decided to move forward with a smaller range of documents.

Most recently, Kavanaugh’s nomination has been shaken by an allegation of attempted rape during high school, lodged by Christine Blasey Ford. The White House and Senate Republicans have responded to that accusation with haste as well. The president on Friday argued that if the allegation were genuine, Ford would have filed a police report at the time. Meanwhile, Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley reacted with impatience to the idea of Ford testifying before the committee, first demanding that she appear on Monday or not at all, and then, after backing down, getting into a clash with Ford’s lawyers over the deadline by which she had to agree to testify later this week. (He eventually gave in on that as well.)

The Ramirez story comes from two investigative reporters with strong track records, Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer. Yet other publications, including The New York Times, had chased the story but not found enough corroboration to run it. Critics, including the White House, quickly jumped on the story’s weaknesses. For example, Farrow and Mayer reported, “In her initial conversations with The New Yorker, she was reluctant to characterize Kavanaugh’s role in the alleged incident with certainty. After six days of carefully assessing her memories and consulting with her attorney, Ramirez said that she felt confident enough of her recollections.”

The reporters spoke to a range of acquaintances. Mayer said on Today Monday morning that Ramirez had not been the first to come forward. “What happened was the classmates at Yale were talking to each other about it, they were emailing about it,” she said. “We’ve seen the emails, back in July before Christine Blasey Ford came forward, and eventually the word of it spread. It spread to the Senate. It spread to the media.”

Some people quoted in the story remembered hearing about the alleged incident at the time. Others found it implausible. (One of the peculiar things about the Kavanaugh allegations is the way they have split those who know him, with some saying that even if they did not know about incidents, they find them plausible given his behavior in college, and others saying it’s impossible to imagine him acting as described.)

Avenatti’s allegations are far more salacious, though they are vague about Kavanaugh’s role in the alleged gang rapes. Avenatti has so far offered no evidence or witnesses for them, though he has in the past made claims that seem unsupported and wild but turn out to be true.