Hundreds of Law Professors Sign Letters Rejecting Kavanaugh Nomination

By Jon Swaine, Guardian UK

04 October 18

Two letters, one from group of female legal academics, say Kavanaugh is ‘unable to adhere to judicial professionalism’

undreds of US law professors are urging the Senate to reject Brett Kavanaugh’s supreme court nomination because of his conduct at last week’s hearing on sexual misconduct allegations.

Signatures are being collected for two letters arguing that Kavanaugh disqualified himself with his angry and tearful remarks to the Senate judiciary committee. Kavanaugh claimed an allegation that he committed a sexual assault aged 17 was “a calculated and orchestrated political hit” by Democrats.

The professors say in their letters that Kavanaugh displayed contempt towards members of Congress and showed a political bias that could call into question his future rulings. They also say his temperament is unsuited to a lifetime position on the highest court.

Citing federal law and the American Bar Association’s code of judicial conduct, the academics note that Kavanaugh is obliged to promote “public confidence in the independence, integrity, and impartiality of the judiciary” and will be required to step aside from a case if he is at risk of being perceived as unfair.

One of the letters, from a national group of female legal educators, accuses Kavanaugh of showing a disrespect for women, after he lashed out at Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. Kavanaugh later apologised for asking Klobuchar about her drinking habits when she tried to ask about his own.

“Judge Kavanaugh’s lack of respect for our democratic institutions and women in positions of power in particular revealed that he does not have a judicial temperament and is unable to adhere to judicial professionalism,” says the letter.

The second letter says that while the questioning Kavanaugh faced was “of course painful”, he chose to be “intemperate, inflammatory and partial” rather than assist senators trying to assess the allegation against him.

That letter has been signed by hundreds of professors, including some from prestigious law schools such as Columbia, Harvard and Yale. The signatories say that despite having “differing views about the other qualifications of Judge Kavanaugh”, they are now agreed that he “did not display the impartiality and judicial temperament requisite to sit on the highest court of our land”.

Kavanaugh said in his remarks that Democrats were attacking him because of their anger about Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 election or as “revenge on behalf of the Clintons”, all fuelled by “millions of dollars in money from outside leftwing opposition groups”.

During the 1990s, Kavanaugh aggressively pursued investigations into then president Bill Clinton while working for independent counsel Kenneth Starr.

The women’s letter says that as a result of his remarks, Kavanaugh could no longer realistically claim to be impartial when ruling on cases involving liberal groups.

“Judge Kavanaugh’s remarks suggest he would not give fair consideration to cases that he perceived to be brought by left-leaning organisations that he has already denigrated,” they write.

The deadline for signatures to the women’s letter was set for 8pm on Tuesday. A copy was obtained by the Guardian. Representatives of the group did not immediately respond to questions about how many professors had signed.

Professor Bernard Harcourt of Columbia law school, one of the organisers of the second letter, said it had attracted almost 400 signatures by late on Tuesday. The letter was scheduled to be delivered to the Senate at noon on Thursday.