In a statement released Sunday, Charles “Chad” Ludington, a Yale classmate of Brett Kavanaugh’s, said Kavanaugh was not truthful last week in his sworn testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee:
In recent days I have become deeply troubled by what has been a blatant mischaracterization by Brett himself of his drinking at Yale. … For the fact is, at Yale, and I can speak to no other times, Brett was a frequent drinker, and a heavy drinker. … On many occasions I heard Brett slur his words and saw him staggering from alcohol consumption, not all of which was beer. When Brett got drunk, he was often belligerent and aggressive. On one of the last occasions I purposely socialized with Brett, I witnessed him respond to a semi-hostile remark, not by defusing the situation, but by throwing his beer in the man’s face and starting a fight that ended with one of our mutual friends in jail.
… If he lied about his past actions on national television, and more especially while speaking under oath in front of the United States Senate, I believe those lies should have consequences. It is truth that is at stake, and I believe that the ability to speak the truth, even when it does not reflect well upon oneself, is a paramount quality we seek in our nation’s most powerful judges.
I can unequivocally say that in denying the possibility that he ever blacked out from drinking, and in downplaying the degree and frequency of his drinking, Brett has not told the truth.
I watched Kavanaugh’s testimony and found it disturbing. I expect judges to be cool, dispassionate, and self-possessed to a fault. I kept telling myself he was displaying righteous indignation because his reputation was being impugned by political enemies and by a woman who supposedly was lying in order to take him down. But that wasn’t reason enough for a potential Supreme Court justice to become, in Ludington’s words, “belligerent and aggressive” — even while sober. It was not the sort of behavior I expect to see in someone aspiring to the highest court in the land.
Now we have Ludington’s statement about Kavanaugh’s drinking, which is definitely at odds with what the judge told the Judiciary Committee under oath. If I had any doubts before, they are gone now. I hate liars. I hate drunks. I hate loud, obnoxious drunks even more. Particularly if they become aggressive toward others — male or female.
Clearly Brett Kavanaugh isn’t temperamentally or morally fit to be a US Supreme Court Justice.
Very important point and commentary.
And I think any senator who still votes to seat him on the Supreme Court is little better than he is.
not surprising at all.
It would be nice if those in Washington would surprise us and do the right thing for a change. Sen. Flake did so only because he’s already announced his retirement.
I was appalled at his behavior at the hearing. Sexual assault aside…he has no business being on the Supreme Court. He was unhinged, belligerent and extremely partisan.
No wonder Trump nominated him. They’re so much alike.
Kavanaugh also specially targeted and attacked Democrats and the Clintons for all of this mess. That is NOT what any Supreme Court judge should do. Not even a local, low court judge. A judge must show their bipartisanship, putting their personal feelings aside, and he is not doing that. I’m pretty confident he would do the same thing while an acting judge. He needs to go away. He’s not fit for this position at all.
Oh I remember when he started attacking the Dems and I think my jaw actually dropped when he mentioned the Clintons. Still not sure where that came from. Talk about running off the rails!
How much worse can it get? This Kavanaugh is not ft to sit in judgement on anybody, and yet if he gets that seat, he will have the power to have people executed.
There must surely be a better way than having these judges nominated/appointed by POTUS ; who only nominates/appoints those of the same political persuasion, not on merit.
The Forefathers should by making it so be turning in their graves at the havoc they wrought by making it so!
The president nominates the candidate, who must then be voted on and approved, first by the Senate Judiciary Committee and then by the entire Senate, after which POTUS makes the appointment official. The process isn’t always as blatently, blindly partisan as it is now. Nor have the nominees always been so controversial. Senate Republicans are threatening the legitimacy of the Supreme Court if they persist in trying to confirm Kavanaugh by silencing opposition, shortcutting normal procedures, etc.
There were no formal political parties when the Constitution was written. In fact, Washington specifically warned against them.
Another nail in what should be his judicial coffin.
And confirming him should be the last nail in the coffin of Senate Republicans.