Al Franken did not deserve being forced out of the Senate, believes Michael Tomasky of The Daily Beast. The way that Democrats called for his head when some of the accusations against him were still to be proven robbed him of the presumption of innocence. Franken, who denied the later charges that ended up toppling him, was unable to defend himself. The reason this happened was political: Democrats needed to remove their own sexual harassment issues in order to have the moral high ground when addressing those of Republicans. Minnesotans didn’t agree with the way Franken left office. He deserved better treatment.

The transgressions of former Senator Al Franken are part of a larger system that keeps women down and needed to be punished appropriately, infers Ruth Reader of Fast Company. The #MeToo campaign is bigger than Franken and whatever value he may have to progressives. It was born, in part, due to the legal system failing to hold harassers and abusers accountable. Letting Franken off the hook because of his other redeeming qualities would hamper the whole movement. In order for it to be effective, all transgressions of this kind need to be punished. Al Franken may very well have fought for women’s rights but he had to be held to a higher standard.