First, the Republican senators in charge of the process have shown no interest in getting at the truth. They refuse to involve any neutral, nonpartisan investigator, as Kate Brannen of Just Security pointed out. They refuse to call witnesses whom Christine Blasey Ford said were present.

I don’t think we will ever know for sure what happened on that night in 1982. But there are serious factual questions to pursue. As Josh Kraushaar of National Journal notes, Kavanaugh’s calendar — listing a gathering on July 1 — is more consistent with Blasey’s version of events than Kavanaugh’s. The people listed as attending that gathering, starting with Mark Judge, could be called. There is also reason to believe Kavanaugh did not tell the truth about multiple aspects of his high school experience.

After the hearing, James Comey, the former F.B.I. director, tweeted, “Small lies matter.” And the American Bar Association called for delaying a confirmation vote until an F.B.I. investigation could be completed. The association previously rated Kavanaugh as “well qualified.” It now says that “the rule of law and due process” demand a delay. The Supreme Court, of course, is supposed to represent the pinnacle of due process. Imagine what it would say if a confirmation to that court rejects the rule of law and due process.

The second piece of potential damage to the court came from Kavanaugh himself. If he did not do any of the things that his accusers claim, his anger is completely understandable. To react any other way, in fact, would be surprising. But he did not merely display anger yesterday; he launched an extraordinary attack on Democratic senators and claimed they were behind the allegations in a nefarious plot.

There is no evidence for this. Yes, they have made mistakes during the process, allowing the allegations to become public only at the end. They deserve criticism for these mistakes. But they are not evidence of the plot Kavanaugh described. Remember: Dianne Feinstein, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, honored Blasey’s request for confidentiality this summer, even when doing so helped Kavanaugh’s odds of confirmation.