Of course, sexual misconduct is not acceptable. But in every other realm of life, we differentiate between offenses that are major and minor and mete out punishment on a sliding scale—such differentiation is built into our criminal-justice system. Our punitive culture, with its ever-expanding promise of “zero tolerance,” however, is broadening the definition of what won’t be tolerated beyond reason and imposing harsh penalties on those whose offenses don’t merit it.

Questions have been raised about some of the accusations, especially concerning how they surfaced and their seriousness—like many, I have been left with feelings of doubt. The final accusation, lodged by Tina Dupuy, for example, was that at a January 2009 Barack Obama inaugural party, she saw Franken, and asked to have a photo taken with him. (He was in the midst of a contested Senate election, and was eventually seated in July.) She wrote, “We posed for the shot. He immediately put his hand on my waist, grabbing a handful of flesh. I froze. Then he squeezed. At least twice.” Dupuy had an encounter that was uncomfortable for her, but I don’t think she’s describing what an objective person would see as a sexual violation. I think The Atlantic should not have published it.

I asked Dupuy about her account. “I was clarifying he was a creep. I didn’t say what happened to me was horrible. I don’t feel secure about my body and I don’t want people touching me without permission,” she said. (In the photo, she has her arm across Franken’s back; his hand is not visible.) She added that she wanted to speak out on behalf of the other accusers. “I would have never said anything, but I was the corroborating witness for seven other women.”

For argument’s sake, take all the accusations at face value. What should have happened to Franken?

A pair of utilitarian cases were made by some Democrats at the time: one that he should stay, and one that he should go. Some argued that Franken might have behaved unacceptably, but because they agreed with him on the issues, his personal behavior should get a pass. (Think of it as the Bill Clinton defense.) Others insisted that he had to be jettisoned so that Democrats could look morally pure in the campaign against Roy Moore—the Republican candidate for Senate from Alabama, who was accused by multiple women of dating and sexually violating them when they were teenagers and he was a district attorney. (The Washington Post won a Pulitzer for its meticulously documented stories on Moore.)

But it is no more moral to excuse unacceptable behavior for a larger purpose than it is to destroy people in the name of some greater good. The proper solution was the one Franken himself sought: Ask the ethics committee to investigate him.

The committee’s jurisdiction is, generally, limited to senators’ behavior while in office, which would have placed several allegations beyond its purview. But perhaps the intense public interest would have led the committee to examine every accusation. It might have decided that none could be substantiated, so the matter would have been closed. But suppose that it concluded some, or even all, were convincing.