Kavanaugh Lied Under Oath & Must Be Held Accountable

Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organization, called on the U.S. Senate to hold Brett Kavanaugh responsible for lying under oath to the Senate Judiciary Committee and to reject his nomination.

"No one is entitled to an appointment to the United States Supreme Court. Honesty and integrity are essential qualifications. It is now clear that Judge Kavanaugh has repeatedly provided false testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee and the American people," said HRC Government Affairs Director David Stacy. "From the start, this confirmation process has been rushed, documents withheld, and the nominee has demonstrated lack of candor and temperament. Enough is enough. The American people deserve better than this. This nomination must be withdrawn or voted down."

There is compelling evidence that Brett Kavanaugh has lied regarding a range of issues including about Dr. Christine Blasey Ford being in his social circle, the Blasey Ford allegation being the subject of an investigation prior to the White House instructions to the FBI, the content and conclusion of witnesses' statements, and his alcohol usage while at Yale.

He has claimed he did not "drink to the point of blacking out" in high school and college, contrary to claims made by numerous classmates. He claimed the derogatory and insinuating remark written in yearbooks ("Renate Alumnius") about a female classmate (which she called "horrible, hurtful, and simply untrue") was a "sign of affection" and not related to sexual conquests, a claim disputed by four other classmates, including Sean Hagan, who wrote of Kavanaugh's lie regarding this: "So angry. So disgusted. So sad. Integrity? Character? Honesty?" Kavanaugh even lied about the relatively trivial definitions of sexual slang terms used by he and his classmates.

Notably, Kavanaugh also claimed he was unaware that a Republican staffer in the Bush White House had stolen documents about judicial nominations from the computer servers of Democratic lawmakers, when in fact, he was sent the stolen documents through email and expressed an interest in meeting in-person to review them.

In August, the Human Rights Campaign joined partner coalition organizations in calling on Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley to order the release of millions of documents in the National Archives and George W. Bush Presidential Library related to the career of Brett Kavanaugh, a standard practice for Supreme Court nominees. This was ignored by Chairman Grassley, Senate Republicans, and the White House.

To that end, HRC released a video and report explaining why understanding Kavanaugh's record at the White House is important; during these years, former President George W. Bush pressed for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex couples from marrying and opposed hate crimes legislation.

To date, an estimated 97 percent of the documents related to Brett Kavanaugh's career have yet to be released, an unprecedented lack of transparency for a Supreme Court nominee.