Presidential Candidates Call For Brett Kavanaugh's Impeachment In Light Of New Sexual Misconduct Allegation

Supreme Court Justice and accused sexual predator Brett Kavanaugh is embroiled in however another allegation of sexual misconduct that the limited and constrained FBI investigation into him last year failed to unearth.


On Sunday, September 15, the New York Times published an excerpt from the upcoming book The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation that specifics new allegations of sexual misconduct against him. In the book, Times reporters Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly elaborate interviews with former Yale students who mentioned that Kavanaugh exposed himself to two female classmates on two separate occasions: Throughout one occasion, he allegedly forced his penis into the face of his female classmate Deborah Ramirez and forced her to touch it as she tried to get away from him; throughout the second, he allegedly forced his penis into a different female classmate’s hand, per an eyewitness. (In a update to its story, the Times later noted that the woman “declined to be interviewed and companions mention she does not remember the episode.") Kavanaugh refused to be interviewed, although denied the claims.


This comes just per year immediately after President Donald Trump nominated Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, which is a lifetime appointment. While in the course of his confirmation, countless females publicly accused him of sexual misconduct, including Christine Blasey Ford who mentioned he pinned her down, covered her mouth, and groped her while in a party in high school. The immediate FBI investigation — which was incredibly limited — noticed not enough evidence to support the crimes. The Times investigation also noticed that the FBI refused to follow up on any of the at least 25 witnesses Ramirez offered to confirm her allegation.


In response, Democratic legislators, presidential candidates, and activists alike have levied calls for his impeachment . Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro, Former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, California Senator Kamala Harris, and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren all called for his impeachment.


However, while other Democratic presidential candidates condemned the allegations, they also stopped short of calling for Kavanaugh’s impeachment. Former Vice President Joe Biden mentioned the new allegations were “profoundly troubling” and called for a new FBI investigation into “whether the Trump Administration and Senate Republicans pressured the F.B.I. To don't think about evidence,” according to Biden’s statement shared on Twitter by Axois’s Alex McCammond. On ABC News’ This Week with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar identically called the method of Kavanaugh’s confirmation a “sham” nevertheless didn’t quite call for impeachment. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, on the other hand, tweeted that he supports “any suitable constitutional mechanism to hold [Kavanaugh] accountable.” One of these mechanisms would be impeachment proceedings, however it’s unclear if that’s what Sander’s was referring to. Tom Steyer, who recently qualified for the fourth primary debate, also called for an investigation into the allegations.


Impeaching a Supreme Court justice would require approval by a majority of the Residence and two-thirds of the Senate — so it’s unlikely that the Republican-led Congress would pass such a measure. The last time a Supreme Court justice went through impeachment proceedings was more than two centuries ago, in 1804, once the Residence of Representatives voted to impeach Colleague Justice Samuel Chase because Home Republicans didn’t agree with several of his decisions on politically-charged trials, according to the Federal Judicial Center. Chase argued that it wasn’t a good enough reason for impeachment because it did not meet the “high crimes and misdemeanors” common for the conviction of a federal judge. He was right, apparently, and immediately after a 22-day trial was acquitted by the Senate. In the 200 years since then, just eight federal judges have been impeached, none of whom are members of the SCOTUS.


Republican leaders have since come to Kavanaugh’s defense. On Twitter, President Donald Trump accused news outlets of attempting to pressure the Justice to vote more liberally and then asked for the Department of Justice to “come to his rescue.” At publish time, it is still unclear what that shows. Trump is joined by the likes of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Texas Senator Ted Cruz. And next month, the Justice Department with showcase the team of lawyers who supported Kavanaugh’s confirmation with the prestigious Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service, the Times reported. The award is usually given to teams who work on prosecution cases.