Courts

New Brett Kavanaugh Documentary Set To 'Trigger Outrage'

A deeper look at the allegations against the Supreme Court Justice.

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(Photo by MELINA MARA/AFP/Getty Images)

It’s not often that major legal news is broken at the Sundance Film Festival, but in the year of our Lord 2023, is anything truly surprising? On Friday night, there was a surprise entrant to the festival — a documentary titled “Justice,” that probes the sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Most folks are familiar with the basics of the allegations — after all, when Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s story of Kavanaugh’s attempted rape came to light, his ascent to the Supreme Court screeched to a halt. But, despite multiple other women coming forward with disturbing stories about Kavanaugh and a quickie FBI investigation, Donald Trump pushed ahead with his nominee, who was ultimately confirmed by the Senate.

But this film, directed by Doug Liman of Swingers fame (and brother to Southern District of New York Judge Lewis Liman), claims to dig deeper into the allegations with never-before-heard evidence. As reported by HuffPo, some of the new details uncovered by the film revolve around the allegations of Kavaugh’s Yale Law classmate, Deborah Ramirez.

While making “Justice,” Liman obtained an audio recording made by a former Yale classmate of Kavanaugh’s and Ramirez’s, Max Stier, several outlets reported.

Stier now serves as the CEO and president of the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit that works to promote good government.

While the accusation on the tape was reported by The New York Times in 2019, the recording itself had not been made public.

Stier reportedly said that while living in the same Yale dormitory as Kavanaugh, he watched Kavanaugh drunkenly expose his penis to a different young woman. Then, his friends allegedly pushed the penis into her hand. The woman, then a freshman, blacked out that night from drinking and does not want her name made public, filmmakers said in a Q&A session following the premiere.

On the recording, Stier details what he heard about the incident:

While he didn’t see what happened to her, Stier says on the tape that he heard about it, The Daily Beast reported. He reportedly heard that after initially forcing Ramirez to face his penis, Kavanaugh allegedly went to a bathroom where friends encouraged him to become erect. Afterward, he allegedly returned to harass Ramirez again.

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Ramirez is interviewed in the film. Dr. Blasey Ford was not, Liman said of that decision, “I felt that Dr. Ford had given so much to the country… she more than did her part for the country. She did enough for 10 lifetimes.” Stier and Kavanaugh declined to be interviewed for the movie.

According to film producer Amy Herdy, the movie is designed to make folks mad — both about the sexual assault allegations and the inadequate FBI investigation that was rushed through to get Kavanaugh on the Court, “I do hope this triggers outrage. I do hope that this triggers action, I do hope that this triggers additional investigation with real subpoena powers.”

Personally, I’m not holding my breath for a thorough investigation into the Kavanaugh allegations. But even if there were such an investigation, until there are 60 Senators willing to hold him responsible for what may be discovered, Brett Kavanaugh will continue to hold his lifetime appointment.

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @[email protected].

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