Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination

[1] Several days later, it was revealed that psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford had written a letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein in July accusing Kavanaugh of sexual assault while they were both in high school in 1982.[6][7] President Trump announced that he would nominate Kavanaugh, then a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, to succeed Justice Anthony Kennedy on July 9, 2018.[5] In reference to Kavanaugh's voting alignment if confirmed, FiveThirtyEight used Lee Epstein et al.'s Judicial Common Space scores[11] (which are not based on a judge's behavior, but rather the ideology scores of either home state senators or the appointing president) to find that Kavanaugh would likely be more conservative than justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, but less conservative than Justice Clarence Thomas, if placed on the Supreme Court.March for Life also expressed concerns that Kavanaugh's leadership bore similarities to that of Vice President Mike Pence, saying that the judge lacked the "backbone" to overturn Roe v."[40] More than 2,400 American law professors signed a letter opposing Kavanaugh's confirmation on the basis of his "intemperate, inflammatory and partial manner" during his congressional testimony, without referencing any of the accusations about his behavior decades earlier.[43][44][45][46] The interdenominational National Council of Churches, which represents 100,000 congregations and 45 million churchgoers, released a statement on October 3, saying that Kavanaugh "possesses neither the temperament nor the character essential for a member of the highest court in our nation.”[47][48] On October 4, a Washington Post editorial came out opposing Kavanaugh's confirmation, their first opposition to a nominee since Robert Bork, citing his "hyperpartisan rhetoric" that "poisoned any sense that he could serve as an impartial judge."[49] That same day, three of Kavanaugh's Yale "drinking buddies" published an opinion piece opposing his confirmation, asserting he was dishonest in his sworn testimony and in a Fox News interview, without referencing any of the sexual abuse accusations against him.As confirmation hearings approached, Committee members and staff were also busy preparing, closely studying Kavanaugh's public record and investigative information compiled on him.[59] Senate Democrats initially refused to meet with Kavanaugh, saying that before they did, the Republican leadership needed to agree to make available for their review all documents (perhaps exceeding 1 million pages) pertaining to Kavanaugh's: tenure as White House staff secretary in the George W. Bush administration, work on the 2000 United States presidential election recount in Florida and on Independent Counsel Ken Starr's investigations concerning President Bill Clinton.[77] Members of the committee were allowed 30 minutes per individual to question the Judge on his record, with key points being his judicial philosophy, Roe v. Wade, and his role in programs implemented after 9/11 by the Bush administration.Booker responded by stating, "I understand the penalty comes with potential ousting from the Senate",[85] and, viewing the release of emails that were marked confidential as an act of "civil disobedience", defiantly declared that this was his "I am Spartacus moment.Ford's accusations were made public in a Washington Post report on September 16, 2018,[91] four days before the Judiciary Committee was scheduled to vote on whether to send the Kavanaugh nomination to the Senate floor for final consideration.[108] Multiple U.S. senators acquired copies of Judge's books about his time at Georgetown Preparatory School, in order to prepare for questioning of Kavanaugh and Ford before the committee.In The New Yorker reporting of her account, an inebriated Kavanaugh "thrust his penis in her face, and caused her to touch it without her consent as she pushed him away", before pulling his pants back up and laughing at Ramirez.[116] On September 26, the woman, Julie Swetnick, released a sworn statement alleging that she had witnessed Kavanaugh and Mark Judge trying to get teenage girls "inebriated and disoriented so they could then be gang raped in a side room or bedroom by a 'train' of numerous boys".[118] Swetnick contacted NBC News October 5 and reiterated her denial of ever seeing Kavanaugh spike punch or act inappropriately toward women, and accused Avenatti of twisting her words.[120] On October 25, Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley referred Avenatti and Swetnick for criminal investigation, claiming they made potentially false statements.[122] During the hearings, another accusation of rape surfaced in a letter by "Jane Doe" from Oceanside, California, addressed to Grassley but mailed anonymously to Senator Kamala Harris on September 19.[123] When committee staff managed to talk with her on November 1, Munro-Leighton changed her story, denying that she had penned the anonymous letter while stating that she had contacted Congress as "a ploy" in order to "get attention".[128][129] Her involvement was criticized by Cassie Smedile, press secretary for the Republican National Committee who stated "If you're concerned about an appearance of partisanship, hiring a Democratic operative with a history of smearing conservative judges doesn't exactly mitigate that."[138][139] She advocated for improvements to the ways in which these accusations are handled, and wrote, "The details of what that process would look like should be guided by experts who have devoted their careers to understanding sexual violence.[145] Democrats entered into the record thousands of letters of support for Ford from her former classmates, other alumni, colleagues, students, mentors and 50 Yale Law School faculty members.[147] In a subsequent memorandum reviewing Ford's allegations that was sent to all members of the Senate Republican Conference, Mitchell stated that she "[did] not think that a reasonable prosecutor would bring this case based on the evidence before the Committee.Dianne Feinstein, the senior Democrat on the committee, who along with Chris Coons had been advocating for an FBI investigation, supported the proposal, calling it "the best way to ensure a fair process to both Kavanaugh and Ford."On July 21, 2021, the senators wrote to Wray: "The admissions in your letter corroborate and explain numerous credible accounts by individuals and firms that they had contacted the FBI with information ‘highly relevant to .[184][185][186] Other researchers have claimed that the effect on the election was overblown, noting that several Democratic incumbent senators in Trump 2016 states voted against Kavanaugh's confirmation but still won re-election.[160][193] The Judiciary Committee also announced that the Senate vote on Kavanaugh's confirmation would be delayed for one week to allow for a "supplemental FBI background investigation" into the "credible allegations [of sexual misconduct] against the nominee" raised during the hearings.However, in 2017, during the Neil Gorsuch confirmation process, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell invoked the so-called nuclear option, which changed the 60 votes needed for cloture to 51.[210][211] President Trump spoke thanking those in attendance and then apologized to Kavanaugh and his family for "the terrible pain and suffering you have been forced to endure", calling the Senate hearing "a campaign of political and personal destruction based on lies and deception.The first on September 10, accused Kavanaugh of lying when he told the Senate Judiciary Committee he was unaware that he received information stolen from Senate Democrats when he was working in the Bush White House in the early 2000s; the second on September 27, alleging that Kavanaugh violated the judiciary's code of conduct by 'engaging in a public and partisan campaign of lies to cover-up and conceal sexual misconduct and crimes he committed in the past.'