this is "nightline." >> tonight, rush to judgment? the supreme court nominee and the woman accusing him of sexual assault now facing mounting pressure to testify publicly. a deadline on her decision set for friday. >> if she doesn't show up, that would be unfortunate. >> republicans saying they've done everything to accommodate dr. blasey ford, and democrats not buying it. >> that is such [ bleep ] i can hardly stand it. >> the demands, the death threats, the all too familiar echos on capitol hill. plus holy smoke. self-ordained weednuns. >> how much today? >> feminist farmers running a million-dollar cannabis operation, vowing to heal with their habit-forming mission. >> we do take six vows.

a vow of service, a vow of activism, a vow of chastity -- >> flying under the radar with an unconventional commitment. but first the "nightline 5." >> let's see if these packs have the same number of bladder leak pads. i bet you think bigger is better. actually -- it's bulkier. always discreet doesn't need all that bulk to protect. because it's made differently. the absorbent core turns liquid to gel for drier protection that's a lot less bulky. good things come in small packages. always discreet for bladder leaks. >> number one in just 60 seconds.

(music throughout) good evening. thank you for joining us. the supreme court confirmation of brett kavanaugh now reaching

a boiling point. at the center of it, one woman and her allegations against the nominee. her story eerily similar to that of anita hill, a woman who made headlines with her own allegations against a supreme court nominee nearly 30 years ago. tonight why hill believes the process needs to pause and an investigation is necessary. here's abc's terry moran. >> are you a scorned woman? >> what was the content of what he said? >> what was included when you talked to the fbi? >> relative to the area of civil rights -- >> has anybody promised you anything by coming forward? >> reporter: 1991, one woman under the hot glare of te lights and 14 men at a supreme court confirmation hearing. >> do you have a martyr complex? >> no, i don't. >> reporter: anita hill answering question after question from skeptical and sometimes hostile senators about the sexual harassment she says she suffered at the hands of supreme court nominee judge clarence thomas. >> my working relationship became even more strained when

judge thomas began to use work situations to discuss sex. >> reporter: thomas has always emphatically denied hill's claims, and he was confirmed to the supreme court despite her allegations. now, 27 years later, another woman is against being asked to come before the senate judiciary committee to answer questions about another nominee. >> do you find her allegations credible, senator? >> well, that's why we're having the hearing. >> we want to hear from here, we've asked her to appear. >> reporter: dr. christine blasey ford is 51, a professor in northern california. she claims nominee brett kavanaugh sexual assaulted her at a party when they were teenagers in high school, something judge kavanaugh denies. dr. ford declines to testify until an fbi investigation of her claims is conducted before she appears in front of the committee, something senate republicans and president trump have refused to do. >> it doesn't matter that he's already had other background checks, this is new information. these are credible allegations

made by a woman of alleged sexual assault. this is a lifetime appointment. >> reporter: before leaving the white house to tour the storm-ravaged carolinas, president trump called the allegations against his embattled nominee unfair. >> really they're hurting somebody's life very badly. and it's very unfair, i think, to, at you know, justice kavanaugh has been treated very, very tough. >> mr. president, if kavanaugh did what he was accused of doing, would that be disqualifying? >> i'd really want to see her, i'd really want to see what she has to say. but i want to give it all the time they need. if she shows up, that would be wonderful. if she doesn't show up, that would be unfortunate. >> reporter: on capitol hill, republican senators amping up the pressure urging dr. ford to testify on monday. >> we're going to have a hearing monday. she can come if she likes. if she doesn't want to, she doesn't have to. kavanaugh can come if he would like.

i think he will. we're going to vote on wednesday. >> asking her to come forward in four, five days and sit before the judiciary committee on national tv is not a fair process. and if they care about doing the right thing here and treating this seriously, as they have said, then they will do the right thing and they will properly investigate this. >> reporter: the judiciary committee chairman, senator chuck grassley of iowa, says he still hopes dr. ford shows up at his hearing on monday, but he has also offered to take her testimony out of the public eye, in private, sending senate aides to california where dr. ford lives to interview her there. >> we've gone beyond what we did the first day of just having the hearing she asked for, the open hearing she asked for, because we heard she might not want to come in that environment, so we offered one more closed session. >> reporter: right now the republicans are rejecting ford's call for the fbi to investigate. late today, grassley sent a

later to senate democrats rejecting their request to delay monday's hearing and dismissing calls for the fbi to investigate the allegations, infuriating some senate democrats. >> the latest being a letter from the chairman to the democrats saying, we have done everything we can to contact her. that is such [ bleep ] i can hardly stand it. >> reporter: all of this taking a toll. dr. ford's attorney releasing this statement, saying in part, she is currently unable to go home and is receiving ongoing threats to her and her family's safety. she continues to believe that a full, nonpartisan investigation of this matter is needed, and she's willing to cooperate with the committee. however, the committee's stated plan to move forward with a hearing that has only two witnesses is not a fair or good-faith investigation. >> do you swear to tell the whole truth -- >> reporter: anita hill is the one woman who has been through this, and she believes an investigation should be conducted before dr. ford testifies. >> we're not talking about whether the conditions are ideal. we're talking about whether the

conditions are actually tenable. whether or not it is going to be anything more than just a sham proceeding so that the senators can say, we gave her a chance to talk, and then move on to doing exactly what they were intending to do before she came forward. >> reporter: on "good morning america" this morning hill gave the senate some advice. >> push the pause button on this hearing. get the information together. bring in the experts. and put together a hearing that is fair, that is impartial, that is not biased by politics or by myth. and bring this information to the american public. >> reporter: officials familiar with the nomination process say judge kavanaugh is shaken by the accusations against him but remains resolute and unflinching in his categorical denials. now his entire life is coming under new scrutiny. this joke from 2015 being

re-examined. >> what happens at georgetown prep stays at georgetown prep. that's been a good thing for all of us, i think. >> reporter: both judge kavanaugh and dr. ford attended elite private schools in the washington, d.c. area. he, georgetown prep. she, houlton arms. this is a picture of her from that time. today classmates of dr. ford's are speaking out on her behalf. >> we stand behind her and we believe that she's telling the truth. she has nothing to gain here except for a clear conscience that she has done her part as a citizen to bring this information forward. >> samantha gary one of 1,000 houlton arms alumni from many decades who signed this letter of support. >> christina is a very successful, very thoughtful scientist and academic. and all of her friends know that she's someone, if she can't prove it, she doesn't put pen to paper. >> reporter: dr. ford's allegations amount to a claim of

sexual assault. in an interview with "the washington post" she offered details about the alleged incident. ford claims at a party she and kavanaugh attended as teenagers, kavanaugh and a friend were stumbling drunk when they corralled her into a bedroom, locked the door, and turned on loud music. she says kavanaugh's friend watched as the now-nominee pinned her to a bed and groped her. he was trying to attack me and remove my clothing, ford said. i thought he might inadvertently kill me. the "post" reports decades later ford told a marriage therapist and her husband about the incident, in 2012. >> victims of sexual assault sometimes do wait decades to tell anyone. some never tell anyone. and that is because historically, women have not been believed, their credibility has been attacked, they've been blamed, women feel ashamed. >> reporter: ford has already had her story questioned by many, including senator orrin hatch. >> there's clearly somebody mixed up. >> you believe him? >> i sure do. >> do you believe the accuser at

all? >> i think she's mistaken. i think she's mistaken something. >> reporter: ford says she doesn't remember some details such as the exact date and location, but she is adamant it was kavanaugh. >> in my experience of interviewing victims of sex crimes, they have told me that they will never forget the person that did this to them, nor will they forget what happened to them. so to those people that are saying she must be mistaken, or perhaps she's confused, i doubt that. >> reporter: tonight senator grassley has given dr. ford an ultimat ultimatum, decide by friday if she will testify before the committee or not. kavanaugh's many republican supporters are sticking by him. the president even expressing doubt the alleged assault occurred. >> she is such an outstanding man, very hard for me to imagine that anything happened. >> reporter: so once again history's echoes resound on capitol hill and senators must grapple with a woman, anita hill in 1991, christine blasey ford

today, alleging sexual misconduct against a man on the threshold of the supreme court. for "nightline" i'm terry moran in washington. next, holy smoke. the self-titled nuns who created a social society on their cannabis farm in california. how they're harvesting healing. . but does psoriasis ever get in the way? embrace the chance of 100% clear skin with taltz. up to 90% of those with moderate to severe psoriasis had a significant improvement of their psoriasis plaques. most people were still clearer after one year. with taltz, 4 out of 10 even achieved completely clear skin. don't use if you're allergic to taltz. before starting, you should be checked for tuberculosis. taltz may increase risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection, symptoms, or received a vaccine or plan to. inflammatory bowel disease can happen with taltz, including worsening of symptoms.

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religion. something so personal for many of us. but the self-proclaimed weed nuns you're about to meet put

their faith in an all-epcompassing, cannabis-based farm where the key to healing is him. here's my "nightline" coanchor juju chang. >> bless our food and bless our folk -- >> reporter: prayer. ministry. >> lead the way over to the abby. >> reporter: servitude. but these are not your typical nuns. >> how much have we had today. >> reporter: sisters of the valley, the self-styled weed nuns, put are faith in the healing power of cannabis. their sermons so to speak aren't around the stickyicky, they are feminists to boot. >> my sin is i voted for ronald reagan. i grew out of it and i think i see more clearly now. >> reporter: their convent deep in northern california farm country where i traveled to meet the unearth docks sorority. before i could enter the premises, a peculiar request. >> we'd like to ask you if it's okay to cleanse you and sage

you. we ask anyone who comes invited to our to house to be cleansed before they enter. that is okay? >> okay. what is this? >> it's sage, a white sage the natives used to cleanse your aura, to cleanse emotions. >> on this sun-drenched property tucked among vineyards and apple orchards, the women grow cannabis, using a strain of marijuana that eliminated thc but contained cbd, touted for healing properties. >> medical marijuana. like over the years they've been able to develop strains that get you super high, we've also developed strains that don't get you high at all. >> reporter: which is the variety they grow in their "garden of weeden." their top seller, a topical salve to soothe achy joints which rakes in $33,000 a day. a few ladies live there, a total of six sisters work in the business alongside two brothers. >> we do need men, we don't want to be exclusive of the men.

we want the women to own the businesses and hold all the offices in town, that's all. >> that's hilarious. sort of like the amazon women of the "wonder women" movies. >> yes. exactly. >> reporter: sister kate what is you'd call the matriarch at sisters of the valley. she says her company grew out of the occupy wall street movement and the desire to build her own commune in an america she says is leaving too many behind. >> you refer to it as healthy socialism. >> yes. >> what do you mean by that? >> healthy socialism. we believe in paying taxes. we believe, quite frankly, america's culture of starving the tax system is wrong. it's morally wrong. most of us have lived in other places where the tax system actually works. so in the netherlands, i raised my children there, 50% of their income is paid in taxes but they never pay a hospital bill, they never worry about their retirement or being homeless. so yes, we are very, very for a reasonable sort of socialism. >> what would you say to a

critic who might say, you're making a mockery of religion? >> i would say religion's made a mockery of itself. >> reporter: not affiliated with any church, the sisters of the valley are selling a different belief, contained in their potions. smells like a grateful dead concert. the fda approved cbd to treat epilepsy. while they glow their own they also ship from oregon when they're not producing. you might find them hanging out with aubrey plaza. or watching their patron saint, political comedian randy rainbow on youtube. they do believe in wi-fi and singing and dancing. and smoking an afternoon joint. decidedly recreational. yes, most of them partake in smoking weed. not the strictly medical stuff grown in their backyard. on the farm, daily life includes making what the women say is a line of medical-grade products. so for hygiene purposes, another request.

what is it good for medicinally? >> generally, people use cbd for chronic pain, joint pain, any body pain. it's also good for insomnia, anxiety, depression. >> reporter: cbd products have become wildly popular and widely available. while a handful of states have legalized recreational marijuana, 31 and the district of columbia have public medical marijuana and cannabis programs on the books. coffee shops in l.a. and new york city offer cbd drops in your coffee. coca-cola is considering a cbd product. in the realm of cbd, business is booming. expected to be a billion-dollar industry by 2022. but the ladies are taking it slow. >> to anybonourish and restore >> reporter: they break for prayer and sustenance. in what way this is a religious life? some people might not agree with that assessment. >> we are sisters. we live together, work together, pray together. so in that definition, we are

truly sisters, truly women sisters. >> take a vow of service, a vow of activism, a vow of chastity, which requires privatizing our sexuality but doesn't require being celebrate. it does require keeping it very private, off the grid. >> no vow of poverty? you don't have to be impoverished? >> living simply. we feel with just distribution of mother earth's gifts, no one should live in poverty. >> reporter: despite its selflessness and bohemian undertones, sisters of the valley raked in $1.1 million last year according to the sisters. religion and spirituality have their place for each member. >> this is our uniform. >> reporter: sister anna, a new acolyte. we're allowed to conditio ed te moment for them that for them feels sacred, the first time she dons the makeshift habit. >> how does it feel? >> incredible. >> reporter: they say their lives are not dedicated to the herb but to the idea of their sisterhood, a women-owned and operated business that nurtures others as well.

are you turning patriarchy on its head? >> that's what we're trying to do. we or a mission to empower women to be their best spiritually, to be their best as an activist, to be in service to their own people on the planet. we're out to inspire women. >> reporter: for "nightline" i'm juju chang in northern california. and next, buckingham bieber. not your average street performer. justin bieber's surprise serenade for the one person he'd dive into cold water for. ♪ take us downtown, waze. waze integration- seamlessly connecting the world inside... with the world outside...

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finally tonight, a pop star's unexpected royal performance. justin bieber takes buckingham palace on a romantic trip to london with fiancee hailey baldwin. he stopped at the palace fountain to sing his hit song "cold water." ♪ ♪ i won't let go

>> giving her the royal treatment with romantic serenades. ♪ >> great voice, but he couldn't have gotten dressed up a little bit? thank you for watching "nightline" and thanks for the company, america. good night.