Court Employees Ready To Come Forward About Brett Kavanaugh, But Fear Retaliation

Brett Kavanaugh is Donald Trump’s pick for the SCOTUS seat vacated by Justice Anthony Kennedy, and he’s increasingly surrounded by controversy. After a woman who says Kavanaugh attempted to rape her in high school came forward to share her story, an attorney is sharing a letter he says he sent to Senators in July, letting them know that federal court employees also have concerns.

Multiple court employees approached attorney Cyrus Sanai, he says, to share concerns and stories before the confirmation of Kavanaugh. In a July letter, Sanai informed senators Chuck Grassley and Diane Feinstein that these individuals wanted to share their concerns, but were afraid of retaliation.

According to The Intercept, neither senator responded.

Sanai references former Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, who resigned in December 2017 after 15 women came forward to share their stories of his inappropriate behavior, ranging, the LA Times reports, from showing them pornography without consent and touching them inappropriately. Sanai was an early whistleblower on the case, and says he faced retaliatory behavior from the judge afterward.

During some of the years that Kozinski sat as judge, Brett Kavanaugh was his law clerk. During confirmation hearings, he denied any knowledge of Kozinski’s sexually predatory behavior. In his letter, Sanai says this demonstrated Kavanaugh is “either lying or so willfully blind to judicial misconduct that he should not be appointed. Everyone knew, even if everyone did not have personal knowledge.”

Cyrus Sanai calls for Congress to place a focus on judges who “made the judiciary safe for Judge Kozinski to satisfy his deviant needs,” saying that if the committee does so, he can guarantee that federal court employees will come forward to share the information they have.

He also recommends that a subpoena is issued for emails between Kavanaugh and Kozinski, and to call witnesses, including himself, to testify about those who protected Kozinski from consequences for his alleged sexual misconduct.

Sanai’s letter outlines connections between Kavanaugh and Kozinski, including Kavanaugh’s clerkship for Kozinski, Kozinski’s son later working for Kavanaugh, and both judges vetting candidates for clerks for Anthony Kennedy, who in turn is said to have recommended Kavanaugh to Donald Trump as his replacement on the Supreme Court.

The Hill reported earlier today that Trump had responded to the allegations, saying that the vote — previously scheduled for Thursday — might be slightly delayed, but that the notion of Kavanaugh’s nomination being withdrawn was “ridiculous.”