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Omnibus Collection Of Brett Kavanaugh Allegations: 10 Character And Fitness Concerns

Here are 10 allegations that did not happen to Neil Gorsuch, Samuel Alito, or John Roberts.

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(screencap via YouTube)

Most people are not following the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation process, and the seemingly daily allegations him. Even when people do tune in, the focus is on the most recent allegation of misconduct, because there are so many. One could be forgiven for missing the forest for each individual allegedly rape-y tree.

So let’s try to cover some of the “gaps” in knowledge of the casual observer. Brett Kavanaugh has been accused of more bad behavior than any Supreme Court nominee, ever. And America has put a man on the Supreme Court who used to be in the Ku Klux Klan. We’ll go in loosely reverse chronological order.

I. The Julie Swetnick Allegations:

Julie Swetnick claims that she witnessed Brett Kavanaugh, and his friend Mark Judge, at multiple parties where the men spiked women’s drinks, and lined up to “train” rape them while they were inebriated. She also claims to be a victim of one of these encounters, though it’s not clear if Kavanaugh was an active participant, or “merely present,” as if it’s okay for a future Supreme Court justice to be merely present at a gang rape. Swetnick made her allegations in a sworn declaration. Here’s our report.

Kavanaugh says that the allegations are “from the Twilight Zone.”

II. The Deborah Ramirez Allegations:

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Ramirez made her allegations to Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer in the New Yorker. She says that Kavanaugh stuck his penis in her face, after a drinking game, while they were both freshmen at Yale.

Kavanaugh denies the allegations. Other people who Ramirez claim were involved in the drinking game do not recall the events. But other people who knew Kavanaugh at Yale, claim that the behavior is consistent with Kavanaugh’s drunken behavior at Yale. Brett Kavanaugh’s roommate at Yale also believes Ramirez.

Kavanaugh denies the allegations.

III. The Christine Blasey Ford Allegations:

Christine Blasey Ford, a university professor, claims that Brett Kavanaugh tried to rape her at a party in 1982. She claims Kavanaugh and his friend, Mark Judge, cornered her in an upstairs bedroom. She claims Kavanaugh pressed on top of her, groped her, turned up the music, and held his hand over her mouth to prevent people from hearing her scream. The attack was stopped when Mark Judge jumped on top of Kavanaugh, Ford then claims she locked herself in a bedroom until the boys went away. Other people Dr. Ford claims were at the party allegedly have no recollection of the party. Many other people who went to school with Dr. Ford, say they believe Dr. Ford.

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Brett Kavanaugh claims to have no recollection of that party, or any party where these events could have occurred. But Kavanaugh has still not answered for how he knew Dr. Ford, where they met, or how often they met.

IV. The Mark Judge Situation:

Brett Kavanaugh’s running buddy in high school is a man named Mark Judge. Judge is a conservative writer and filmmaker. Judge has written a memoir about how he was drunk all the time in high school. While Judge has said that he does not recall the party where Dr. Ford was allegedly attacked and backs up Kavanaugh’s story, Judge has not been called to testify by the Senate Judiciary Committee, nor has he be questioned by the F.B.I. in connection with these allegations.

Judge’s ex-girlfriend, Elizabeth Rasor, claims that Judge confessed to her about participating in the exact kind of behavior alleged by Ford and Swetnick.

Judge has told the Washington Post “How’d you find me?”

V. The Renate Alumnus Situation:

Brett Kavanaugh’s high school yearbook contains numerous references to the “Renate Alumnus.” It appears to be a reference to a woman, “Renate,” who Kavanaugh and his friends all claimed to have had sex with in high school. Renate claims that she did not have sex with these boys, and describes the allegation in the yearbook as horrible and hurtful.

Kavanaugh claims that the reference refers to a “goodbye kiss” he received from Renate. He also claims that he was a virgin in high school, and for many years after. And… he has calendars.

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These are just the allegations that directly accuse Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, witnessing sexual misconduct, or attempted rape. But even that is not “the forest.” The full picture of Brett Kavanaugh cannot emerge until you look at the full slate of lies, misleading information, or incredible answers Kavanaugh has given to a host of issues.

VI. The Ed Whelan Fiasco:

One of the first defenses offered on behalf of Kavanaugh against the allegations of Christine Blasey Ford was launched by Ed Whelan. Whelan alleged, on Twitter, that another man attempted to rape Dr. Ford. The allegations were totally unsubstantiated, and likely defamed a middle-school teacher. Whelan has taken a leave of absence from his post as… whatever Federalist Society troll think-tank gave him credibility among people who don’t pay attention to such things.

Kavanaugh and the Senate Republicans claim to have had no knowledge of Whelan’s hit job before he went live with it. But, right up until the moment Whelan was exposed, Republicans sure seemed confident that evidence would be released to exculpate Brett Kavanaugh.

VII. The Amy Chua Fiasco:

Reports from multiple students from Yale Law School claim that Professor Amy Chua told them that Brett Kavanaugh only likes women clerks who are pretty. She told one student he likes clerks who have a “certain look,” another that “it’s no accident” that Kavanaugh’s clerks “look like models,” and told a male student interested in clerking for Kavanaugh that he “tends to hire women who are generally attractive and then likes to send them to [Supreme Court Chief Justice John] Roberts”.

Chua has denied the allegations, but Yale is investigating them. Yale is also investigating Chua’s husband, fellow Yale Law Professor Jed Rubenfeld, who — along with many allegations of his own misconduct — allegedly warned a student to avoid clerking for two judges: Alex Kozinski and Brett Kavanaugh.

Brett Kavanaugh has not responded to these allegations.

VIII. Remember Alex Kozinski:

Brett Kavanaugh once clerked for Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski. Alex Kozinski retired after numerous allegations of his sexual harassment and misconduct. Brett Kavanaugh claims that he knew nothing about the behavior of Alex Kozinski. Specifically, he says he cannot recall if he ever received sexually explicit emails from Alex Kozinski.

His denials are hardly believable. Kozinski’s behavior was an open secret, and more than a clerk, Kavanaugh was a friend of Kozinski. His “Easy Rider Gag List” email list was sent to numerous clerks, former clerks, journalists, and friends. It’s simply unbelievable that Kavanaugh never received them. Moreover, Kavanaugh replaced Alex Azar, current head of Health and Human Services, as a clerk for Kozinski. Azar left Kozinski after only six weeks, something that is generally not done with a prestigious federal clerkship. Azar and Kavanaugh were friends who worked together on the Ken Starr commission. Kavanaugh has never given a straight answer about what Alex Azar may have told him about Kozinski.

Just, please, read Heidi Bond’s account of Kozinski’s chambers. Kavanaugh has never been straight about what he knows about Kozinski.

IX. The Dice Game:

In emails obtained by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Brett Kavanaugh wrote: “Apologies to all for missing Friday (good excuse), and growing aggressive after blowing still another game of dice (don’t recall). Reminders to everyone to be very, very vigilant w/r/t confidentiality on all issues and all fronts, including with spouses.”

Under normal circumstances, a Supreme Court nominee with a possible gambling problem, would be a major red flag. Kavanaugh claims that the “dice game” referred to in the email was “for no money.” And the “confidentiality” Kavanaugh requested was in regards to his attraction to his current wife, which he expressed to his friends during the dice game for no stakes.

X. Perjury:

Almost lost in the shuffle, Brett Kavanaugh seems to have lied to Congress in testimony he gave to them in 2004 and 2006. He claimed he was not involved in the confirmation processes of Judge William Pryor and Judge Charles Pickering. In fact, he was. Kavanaugh claims that he was not involved in a scandal where Republicans were using stolen documents from Democrats to help prepare judicial nominees and that he didn’t know he was working from such material. In fact, Kavanaugh received emails with titles like “SPYING” in regard to such documents.

Kavanaugh claims that he wasn’t lying, and his defenders say that his testimony doesn’t rise to the legal level of “perjury,” he just gave “imprecise” testimony.

Any individual allegation on this list should be disqualifying for a Supreme Court Justice:

1. Train rape, being at train rape parties and not saying anything, or spiking girls drinks at train rape parties, should be disqualifying.
2. Drunkenly shoving your penis in the face of a woman who did not ask to see your penis, should be disqualifying.
3. Attempted rape, should be disqualifying.
4. Being friends with an alleged gang rapist and having that alleged gang rapist be your main character witnesses for your past behavior, should be disqualifying.
5. Boasting that you had sex with a woman, then telling America that you were boasting about getting a goodbye kiss, and expecting America to be so stupid as to believe you when you could have just as easily said “yeah, I was being a d-bag there, sorry”, should be disqualifying.
6. Having knowledge of or participating in the defamation of an innocent man to distract from allegations about your own behavior, should be disqualifying.
7. Selecting women clerks based on their looks, or not interviewing potential clerks because of their looks, or not hiring male clerks because they don’t look like hot women, should be disqualifying.
8. Lying about what you knew and when you knew that your friend and mentor was spreading pornography around his chambers and emailing associates, should be disqualifying.
9. Having a gambling problem, or lying about your gambling problem, or lying about why you got blackout drunk while gambling, should be disqualifying.
10. Lying to Congress or giving imprecise testimony to Congress, should be disqualifying.

If you believe any one of these allegations, you should not support Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. And if you think all of these allegations are some kind of Democratic plot against Kavanaugh — a plot that was not unleashed against Neil Gorsuch who was only trying to fill a seat the Republicans STOLE from Barack Obama — you are either a willfully ignorant hack or a truly terrible person.

Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

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