Hundreds of law professors are urging the United States Senate to reject Kavanaugh as Republicans plan to vote on his nomination this week.
In a letter published in The New York Times on Wednesday, more than 650 legal scholars said Donald Trump’s SCOTUS nominee is unfit to sit on the nation’s highest court for the rest of his life.
“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.”
More from the letter, which the Times says will be presented to the U.S. Senate on Thursday:
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We are law professors who teach, research and write about the judicial institutions of this country. Many of us appear in state and federal court, and our work means that we will continue to do so, including before the United States Supreme Court. We regret that we feel compelled to write to you, our Senators, to provide our views that at the Senate hearings on Sept. 27, Judge Brett Kavanaugh displayed a lack of judicial temperament that would be disqualifying for any court, and certainly for elevation to the highest court of this land.
The question at issue was of course painful for anyone. But Judge Kavanaugh exhibited a lack of commitment to judicious inquiry. Instead of being open to the necessary search for accuracy, Judge Kavanaugh was repeatedly aggressive with questioners. Even in his prepared remarks, Judge Kavanaugh described the hearing as partisan, referring to it as “a calculated and orchestrated political hit,†rather than acknowledging the need for the Senate, faced with new information, to try to understand what had transpired. Instead of trying to sort out with reason and care the allegations that were raised, Judge Kavanaugh responded in an intemperate, inflammatory and partial manner, as he interrupted and, at times, was discourteous to senators.
Anybody that cares about the integrity of the court should want to see Kavanaugh’s nomination pulled
With the FBI set to release findings from a sham investigation sometime Wednesday night or Thursday, time is running out to stop this nomination. That’s why hundreds of law professors are speaking out before it’s too late.
What the letter also demonstrates is just how unpopular Kavanaugh’s nomination is to people who care most about the court’s integrity.
The law professors that are speaking out ahead of the potential confirmation vote might differ on political leanings, but they stand united in their belief that the court’s reputation must be protected.
The U.S. Senate must vote no on his nomination when it comes to the floor this week.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
