Sen. Jeff Flake may be the only senator to say he doesn’t have a clue how to sort out the he-said, she-said nature of accusations between Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh and chief accuser Christine Blasey Ford.

Mr. Flake said he’s not even sure a day’s worth of questioning of Judge Kavanaugh and Ms. Blasey Ford, both of whom face the Judiciary Committee on Thursday, will settle things.

“However this vote goes, I am confident in saying that it will forever be steeped in doubt. This doubt is the only thing of which I’m confident in this process,” the Arizona Republican said in a striking speech from the Senate floor Wednesday where he chided colleagues for sapping the humanity of both accuser and accused, turning them into “unintentional combatants in an undeclared war.”

It’s common for both sides on Capitol Hill to enter a hearing with their minds made up.

But Thursday’s hearing is anything but common.

Ms. Blasey Ford will deliver a heartfelt account of a sexual assault she says still haunts her to this day and which she says came at the hands of Judge Kavanaugh when they were both high school students.

Judge Kavanaugh will say he doesn’t question that she was the victim of assault and she deserves to be heard — but he “never did anything remotely resembling” what she has accused him of.

Mr. Flake, one of the few senators who says he’s still on the fence, excoriated colleagues who have made up their minds. “One is tempted to ask, why even bother to have a hearing?” he wondered.

The Judiciary Committee is made up of 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats.

Many of those Democrats have already announced they believe Ms. Blasey Ford’s accounts as detailed in a letter she wrote to Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California and by an interview she gave to The Washington Post.

“I strongly believe Judge Kavanaugh should withdraw from consideration and the president should withdraw his nomination if Judge Kavanaugh won’t do it voluntarily,” said Sen. Richard Durbin, Illinois Democrat and a panel member.

He joined the other Democrats on the committee Wednesday in signing a letter saying at the very least the hearing should be put off. It’s the same demand they’ve made for a week, though they’ve become more adamant as new accusers come forward.

Most Republicans, meanwhile, have become just as adamant about plowing ahead, saying they see Democrats’ demands for delay as a political trick.

One Republican committee member, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, called the accusations a “smear campaign.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell shared the same sentiment, spurring calls from Democrats for an apology to Ms. Blasey Ford.

“It’s shameful — shameful — to doubt these women’s sincerity,” Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said Tuesday.

Sen. John Kennedy, Louisiana Republican, bristled at the notion that senators must accept Ms. Blasey Ford’s accusations without challenge.

“This is no country for creepy old men or creepy young men or creepy middle-aged men, but this is also no country to deny people due process, and some of my colleagues have suggested that you’re morally tainted if you don’t automatically believe every accuser,” said Mr. Kennedy, a committee member. “I don’t agree with that. I don’t want to live in an America like that.”

He said he planned to “listen attentively to both the accuser and the accused.”

Judge Kavanaugh has been interviewed, under criminal penalties for lying, by Senate investigators on multiple occasions. Neither Ms. Blasey Ford nor any of the other accusers has agreed to an interview.

Both Judge Kavanaugh and Ms. Blasey Ford do come to Thursday’s hearing with letters of support from friends and family who back up their character and say they are truthful people.

But barring a catastrophic case of mistaken identity, it’s difficult to square their recollections. Mr. Flake said he’s not optimistic Thursday will be able to do that.

“Those of us on the committee have to be prepared for the possibility, indeed the likelihood, that there will be no definitive answers to the very large questions before us. In legal terms, the outcome might not be dispositive,” he said.

He added: “We must have open minds. We must listen. We must do our best, seek the truth, in good faith. That is our only duty.”

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