The prominent conservative lawyer who raised the specter of mistaken identity amid Christine Blasey Ford's allegation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her will take a leave of absence from the ethics institute he heads.

Ed Whelan, the president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, faced a torrent of criticism last week after he indicated in a flurry of tweets that Ford may have confused her attacker during a high school party in the 1980s with Kavanaugh. He named a former classmate of Kavanaugh's at Georgetown Preparatory School as a possible suspect — a decision he later said he regretted.

"The board of the Ethics and Public Policy Center convened a special telephonic meeting on Friday, September 21, 2018," the institute wrote Sunday in a statement. "After the meeting, Edward Whelan, who has led EPPC with integrity and excellence for many years, offered his resignation in light of what he described as an 'appalling and inexcusable' error in posting online a series of comments that he has now deleted and for which he promptly publicly apologized."

"After deliberation, the board declined to accept Mr. Whelan’s resignation, but determined that he will take a leave of absence from the organization during which time Yuval Levin, EPPC’s Vice President and Hertog Fellow, will be in charge," the statement continued.

Ford Whelan's theory on Thursday, saying she knew and "socialized with" Kavanaugh and the other Georgetown Prep alumnus suggested by Whelan. She added she had once visited the classmate in hospital.

“There is zero chance that I would confuse them," she told the Washington Post.

One day later, Whelan apologized and took "full responsibility" for his actions, writing on Twitter that he realized saying sorry does not "undo the mistake.”

Whelan denied to the Washington Post on Friday that he had discussed his plans with White House Counsel Don McGahn, “or anyone at the White House, or Judge Kavanaugh,” before broaching the topic of mistaken identity on social media.

The board of the center, which promotes the application of "the Judeo-Christian moral tradition" to pressing policy issues, will meet in a month to review Whelan's status at the institute.