Fittingly enough, Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee was mentored by a high-profile judicial sexual harasser. Brett Kavanaugh clerked for and remained close to Judge Alex Kozinski, who was forced to step down from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last winter after 15 women came forward with their stories of sexual harassment. So the question is what did Kavanaugh know and how, as a man mentored by a notorious harasser, will he handle the issue within the judiciary and within the law?
“Sexual harassment and workplace misconduct in the federal judiciary is a matter of concern to all of us, including Chief Justice [John] Roberts, who convened a Judicial Conference working group to assess the problem and propose solutions,” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) said through a spokesman.
“Given Judge Kavanaugh’s close relationship with former Judge Alex Kozinski, the subject of numerous harassment complaints, we need to know what Judge Kavanaugh knew and his views on this serious problem,” added Hirono, who sits on the Judiciary Committee and will have a chance to directly question Kavanaugh at hearings planned for next month.
Kavanaugh’s claim, issued through the White House, is that he knew nothing. While it’s entirely possible that none of Kozinski’s victims directly complained to a man known to be close to their abuser, based on reports of Kozinski’s habits, the only way Kavanaugh can say he was totally ignorant of the problem is if Kavanaugh is discounting a steady stream of offensive and inappropriate jokes and was able to simply not see his mentor ogling women in public events as a general habit. In other words, if Kavanaugh didn’t know about the serious ongoing harassment of the women most under Kozinski’s power, it’s because he was already closing his eyes to unacceptable public behavior.
Democrats should absolutely push on this. But let’s not fool ourselves that even so-called moderate Republicans will see it as a problem to vote someone onto the Supreme Court who enabled a chronic sexual harasser.