The other Op Ed

In the Washington Post, three Yale classmates of Kavanaugh:

We were college classmates and drinking buddies with Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh. In the past week, all three of us decided separately to respond to questions from the media regarding Brett’s honesty, or lack thereof. In each of our cases, it was his public statements during a Fox News TV interview and his sworn testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee that prompted us to speak out.

We each asserted that Brett lied to the Senate by stating, under oath, that he never drank to the point of forgetting what he was doing. We said, unequivocally, that each of us, on numerous occasions, had seen Brett stumbling drunk to the point that it would be impossible for him to state with any degree of certainty that he remembered everything that he did when drunk.

Since coming forward, we each have received numerous angry messages accusing us of attempting to ruin a man’s life because of his drunken antics as a college student. In fact, none of us condemned Brett for his frequent drunkenness. We drank too much in college as well. It is true that Brett acknowledged he sometimes drank “too many beers.” But he also stated that he never drank to the point of blacking out.

By coming forward, each of us has disrupted our own lives and those of our families. As well as navigating the intense media interest, including having news vans and reporters set up in front of the home of one of us, we have received large amounts of hate mail, including threats of violence. We have lost friendships. The work servers of one of us were hacked.

None of this is what we wanted, but we felt it our civic duty to speak the truth and say that Brett lied under oath while seeking to become a Supreme Court justice. That is our one and only message, but it is a significant one. For we each believe that telling the truth, no matter how difficult, is a moral obligation for our nation’s leaders. No one should be able to lie their way onto the Supreme Court. Honesty is the glue that holds together a society of laws. Lies are the solvent that dissolves those bonds.

All of us went to Yale, whose motto is “Lux et Veritas” (Light and Truth). Brett also belonged to a Yale senior secret society called Truth and Courage. We believe that Brett neither tells the former nor embodies the latter. For this reason, we believe that Brett Kavanaugh should not sit on the nation’s highest court.

  WaPo

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Alaska attorney group against Kavanaugh

Hundreds of female attorneys urged on Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alask) and Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) to vote against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

More than 350 attorneys made the request in a joint letter sent to the Republican senators, according to the Daily News-Miner.

"We are Alaskan women attorneys who work in a variety of settings, including public interest organizations, government agencies, and private practice," the letter states, the newspaper reported. "Among us are Republicans, Democrats, Nonpartisan and Undeclared voters. We ask you, as your constituents and as fellow lawyers, to vote against confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh as Justice of the United States Supreme Court."

[...]

"Judge Kavanaugh's conduct during his confirmation hearing fell far short of our standards as citizens and as lawyers," the attorneys add. "He displayed uncontrolled anger, sarcasm, and open contempt of Senators –– particularly female Senators –– and he made numerous unapologetically partisan statements."

  The Hill

Which is why every Senator in the building should vote no. But they won't.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Retired Supreme John Paul Stevens doesn't think Kavanaugh is fit for the bench

Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens on Thursday said that high court nominee Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, who Stevens once lauded in one of his books, does not belong on the Supreme Court.

[...]

Stevens, 98, said Kavanaugh’s performance during a recent Senate confirmation hearing suggested that he lacks the temperament for the job.

Stevens, a lifelong Republican who is known for falling on the liberal side of several judicial rulings, praised Kavanaugh and one of his rulings on a political contribution case in the 2014 book “Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution.”

“At that time, I thought (Kavanaugh) had the qualifications for the Supreme Court should he be selected,” Stevens said. “I’ve changed my views for reasons that have no relationship to his intellectual ability … I feel his performance in the hearings ultimately changed my mind.”

[...]

Stevens decried the partisan politics that have shrouded the judiciary branch in recent years.

As a justice, Stevens was one of three dissenting votes in the Bush v. Gore case that ordered Florida to end the ballot recount in the disputed presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore, and effectively propelled Bush to the presidency.

“Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year’s presidential election, the identity of the loser is clear,” Stevens wrote in the strongly worded dissent. “It is the nation’s confidence in the judge as impartial guardian of the rule of law.”

Stevens said political leaders and the court have failed to repair the nation’s confidence in the judicial branch’s separation from the president and the Legislature.

“I think it’s worse, I regret to say it,” he said.

  Palm Beach Post

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

The court will lose what little credibility it had left

The nation’s largest coalition of Christian churches on Wednesday called for the withdrawal of Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination for the Supreme Court.

The National Council of Churches, which has membership from more than 40 denominations including most major Protestant and Eastern Orthodox denominations in the U.S., wrote in a statement on their website that they believe Kavanaugh has “disqualified himself from this lifetime appointment and must step aside immediately.”

  The Hill

He won't do it. He hasn't the integrity.

“Judge Kavanaugh exhibited extreme partisan bias and disrespect towards certain members of the committee and thereby demonstrated that he possesses neither the temperament nor the character essential for a member of the highest court in our nation,” the statement read.

The National Council of Churches alleged that Kavanaugh’s testimony included “several misstatements and some outright falsehoods,” including some related to Christine Blasey Ford’s accusation that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a high school party in the 1980s.

[...]

“Judge Kavanaugh’s extensive judicial and political record is troubling with regard to issues of voting rights, racial and gender justice, health care, the rights of people with disabilities, and environmental protections,” they wrote. “This leads us to believe that he cannot be an impartial justice in cases that are sure to come before him at the Court.”

The group later added to their statement, saying they are "deeply disturbed" by the assault allegations against Kavanaugh and calling for "a full and unhindered investigation of these accusations," according to Religion News Service.

They need to let their Republican senators know they won't be getting any support if they confirm Kavanaugh.

The protests are only getting started

Progressive and women's groups coordinated 300 candlelit vigils that took place across the U.S. on Wednesday night to demonstrate opposition to President Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh.

  The Hill

Law professors reject Kavanaugh

More than 650 law professors nationwide signed a letter urging the Senate to reject Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, citing concerns about his temperament during a Senate Judiciary Hearing last week.

The professors wrote in a letter published in The New York Times that Kavanaugh's performance during the hearing — in which he vigorously denied allegations that he sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford — would be disqualifying for service on any court. The letter is expected to be delivered on Thursday.

"Judge Kavanaugh exhibited a lack of commitment to judicious inquiry," the professors wrote. "Instead of being open to the necessary search for accuracy, Judge Kavanaugh was repeatedly aggressive with questioners."

[...]

Among the signatories are 20 professors from Harvard Law School, where Kavanaugh has taught in recent years. The school announced this week that Kavanaugh would not return to teach a scheduled course next semester.

[...]

"We have differing views about the other qualifications of Judge Kavanaugh," the letter states. "But we are united, as professors of law and scholars of judicial institutions, in believing that he did not display the impartiality and judicial temperament requisite to sit on the highest court of our land."

  The Hill

Mitch McConnell does not give a shit.

UPDATE:

Kavanaugh backs out of teaching

Kavanaugh, under fire over allegations of sexual assault allegedly committed decades ago, will not teach his course at Harvard Law School this January, the Harvard Crimson reported Tuesday.

Catherine Claypoole, associate dean and dean for academic and faculty affairs, told students in an email on Monday night that Kavanaugh had notified the school that he would not be able to teach his course, “The Supreme Court Since 2005," as scheduled next semester.

[...]

Hundreds of Harvard Law alumni signed a letter urging the university to remove Kavanaugh as a lecturer at the school, though the letter had not been submitted to administrators by the time of Claypoole's email, The Washington Post reported. Hundreds of students and faculty from Yale Law School, where Kavanaugh earned his law degree, also protested his appointment to the Supreme Court, with over 100 students descending on the court's steps to demonstrate last week.

  Politico

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Kavanaugh's teaching job on the line

As it should be.

In response to student protests over the sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee and Harvard Law School visiting lecturer Brett Kavanaugh, John F. Manning, dean of the law school, sent an email to students with an assurance: Should any concerns arise about “individuals in our teaching program,” the school will take them seriously.

Whether Kavanaugh will continue teaching, Manning wouldn’t say.

While the dean of Yale Law School — Kavanaugh’s alma matter — has already joined the American Bar Association in calling for an FBI investigation into the allegations, Harvard has yet to make any such statements.

The school’s students, however, have been notably more outspoken, with The Harvard Crimson reporting that hundreds of law school students walked out of class during Thursday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in a show of support for Kavanaugh’s accusers.

  HuffPo

Yale Law School protests

Students at Yale Law School staged a sit-in on Monday and called for an investigation into sexual assault accusations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Videos and photos posted on Twitter show dozens of students dressed in black lining the hallway at Yale's Sterling Law Building. The move led some faculty members to either cancel or reschedule classes, the law school said.

[...]

Yale Law School Dean Heather Gerken said in a statement on Monday that the allegations against Kavanaugh are "rightly causing deep concern" at the institution.

"Students have worked with the Law School administration and faculty so that the community can come together as a whole to discuss this important moment in our country’s history," she said.

She also noted that "as dean, I cannot take a position on the nomination."

  The Hill

Hundreds of women who graduated from Yale University have signed an open letter supporting a former student accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of exposing himself to her at the college.

"We are coming forward as women of Yale because we have a shared experience of the environment that shaped not only Judge Kavanaugh’s life and career, but our own," reads the letter, which was published on Medium on Monday.

"We are committed to supporting all women who have faced sexual assault, not only at Yale, but across the country," the letter said, before demanding that the new allegations against Kavanaugh be "thoroughly investigated" and that a confirmation vote be delayed until the charges are probed.

The letter attracted more than 900 signatures as of 1:30 p.m. on Monday.

  The Hill

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Yale Law School faculty write an open letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee

As the Senate Judiciary Committee debates Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination, we write as faculty members of Yale Law School, from which Judge Kavanaugh graduated, to urge that the Senate conduct a fair and deliberate confirmation process. With so much at stake for the Supreme Court and the nation, we are concerned about a rush to judgment that threatens both the integrity of the process and the public’s confidence in the Court.

Where, as here, a sexual assault has been alleged against an individual nominated for a lifetime appointment in a position of public trust, a partisan hearing alone cannot be the forum to determine the truth of the matter. Allegations of sexual assault require a neutral factfinder and an investigation that can ascertain facts fairly. Those at the FBI or others tasked with such an investigation must have adequate time to investigate facts. Fair process requires evidence from all parties with direct knowledge and consultation of experts when evaluating such evidence. In subsequent hearings, all of those who testify, and particularly women testifying about sexual assault, must be treated with respect.

The confirmation process must always be conducted, and appointments made, in a manner that gives Americans reason to trust the Supreme Court. Some questions are so fundamental to judicial integrity that the Senate cannot rush past them without undermining the public’s confidence in the Court. This is particularly so for an appointment that will yield a deciding vote on women’s rights and myriad other questions of immense consequence in American lives.

  Yale Law

The letter is signed by approximately 50 faculty members.