Yet even if American voters do not have sufficient evidence to
determine what Mr. Biden did or did not do in the past, there are
standards by which the public can judge his present conduct. One such
standard is whether Mr. Biden has made every effort to be transparent
and to provide access to potentially relevant archival materials. Unlike
in the hearings for Justice Kavanaugh's nomination to the U.S. Supreme
Court, when Senate Republicans chose to press ahead to a vote as close
as possible to their original schedule, there is still sufficient time
to resolve the question of whether any documents relevant to the present
case exist and to do so well in advance of the election.
The
former vice president has asked the National Archives to search for any
relevant documents or other evidence, and he has made a similar request
of the U.S. Senate. But he has thus far not allowed access to his
personal papers at the University of Delaware, saying that those
archives do not contain personnel records.
That may be true, but Mr. Biden should open those archives anyway. He
could commission an impartial, professional archivist or archival firm
to conduct a narrow search for any material related to Ms. Reade’s
allegations. This would go a long way toward proving to a wary
electorate that he is taking every possible step to be transparent.
-- the editors, "Joe Biden should open his personal files" (AMERICA: JESUIT REVIEW).