April, 11 2019, 12:00am EDT
Progressive Groups, Including Sexual Assault Survivors' Advocates, Urge House Democrats to Investigate Brett Kavanaugh's Sham Confirmation Process
Push Comes as George Mason Students Protest University’s Hiring of Kavanaugh as Law Professor
WASHINGTON
On Thursday, a coalition of sexual assault survivors' organizations and other progressive groups called on House Democrats to investigate the circumstances surrounding Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court, such as whether the Trump administration interfered with the FBI's investigation into the sexual assault allegations made against him.
Throughout the process last year, multiple disqualifying issues came to light, only to be swept under the rug by Senate Republicans. There remains a cloud of suspicion surrounding Kavanaugh's hearings before the Senate and, ultimately, his fitness to serve on the Supreme Court. In response, Demand Justice, along with dozens of progressive organizations--including Indivisible, UltraViolet, Women's March, Center for Popular Democracy, End Rape on Campus and Know Your IX--sent a letter to the members of the House Judiciary and Oversight and Reform Committees urging them to look into the many red flags that came up during Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation process.
"Senate Republicans made a mockery of their constitutional responsibility to provide 'advice and consent' on the president's nomination of Justice Kavanaugh, and the American people deserve to know how and why the process was such a sham," the letter states. "The public is just as entitled to a thorough review of Justice Kavanaugh's record now as it was before he was elevated to the Supreme Court and to know whether allegations against him of sexual assault and perjury have any factual basis."
Specifically, the groups are urging House Democrats to seek information regarding potential White House interference in the FBI investigation into Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh; to investigate the multiple, credible sexual assault allegations; and to obtain and review the hundreds of thousands of undisclosed documents from Kavanaugh's tenure in the George W. Bush White House.
The passage of time since the Senate's razor-thin vote to confirm Kavanaugh has not dulled the outrage surrounding his seat on the Court. In the latest controversy, the decision by the George Mason School of Law to hire Kavanaugh as a part-time professor has been met with student protests, including by sexual assault survivors who believe Christine Blasey Ford's credible allegations against Kavanaugh. George Mason University's president has so far defended the decision to hire Kavanaugh by saying that he is unable to know whether to believe Blasey Ford's allegations or not. This makes a further investigation by the House of Representatives all the more necessary.
Demand Justice will also be releasing a series of digital ads highlighting questionable aspects of both Kavanaugh's testimony and his confirmation process and encouraging the House to investigate.
Demand Justice is a progressive movement fighting to restore the ideological balance and legitimacy of the federal courts by advocating for court reform and vigorously opposing extreme nominees.
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U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that he is commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 Americans and pardoning 39 people convicted of nonviolent crimes, a move the White House described as "the largest single-day grant of clemency in modern history."
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According to a White House fact sheet, those who received commutations "have been serving their sentences at home for at least one year under the Covid-era CARES Act," a law that extended the amount of time in which people could be placed in home confinement to reduce the spread of the virus in prisons.
The White House did not name those who received pardons or commutations but said the list includes a "decorated military veteran," a "nurse who has led emergency response for several natural disasters," and "an addiction counselor who volunteers his time to help young people find their purpose."
The Biden Justice Department paused federal executions in 2021, but President-elect Donald Trump pledged on the campaign trail to expand the use of the death penalty and is expected to allow the executions of the 40 men on death row to take place if they're still there when he takes office next month.
In a statement on Thursday, Biden said that he has "the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to remove sentencing disparities for non-violent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenses."
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Biden, who campaigned on ending the death penalty at the federal level, vowed to "take more steps in the weeks ahead" as his administration reviews clemency petitions, leaving open the possibility of commutations for death row prisoners.
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