Former Supreme Court Associate Justice John Paul Stevens on Thursday said Brett Kavanaugh's behavior during last Thursday's contentious Judiciary Committee hearing should sink his nomination.
Kavanaugh, at times emotional, testified [1]that he was the victim of a far-left smear campaign aimed at preventing a generational rightward shift on the Supreme Court. In the past several weeks, he has been accused of engaging in gang rapes and sexual misconduct dating back more than three decades -- claims that he has denied and that the FBI, in a supplemental inquiry concluded earlier this week, could not corroborate.
FOX NEWS POLLS SHOW KAVANAUGH SLUGFEST WILL LIKELY HELP GOP IN MIDTERMS, AS REPUBLICAN ENTHUSIASM SURGES[2]
But Stevens, who was an associate justice on the Supreme Court from 1975 to 2010 and gradually shifted to become a reliably liberal justice, suggested Thursday that Kavanaugh went too far in defending himself. At one point, the judge responded to a question about his past drinking habits from Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., by repeatedly asking if she'd ever had alcohol-related blackouts. Later in the hearing, he apologized for the remark.
“I thought [Kavanaugh] had the qualifications for the Supreme Court, should he be selected,” Stevens said at a closed event held by a retirement group in Boca Raton, according to The Palm Beach Post[3]. “I’ve changed my views for reasons that have no relationship to his intellectual ability … I feel his performance in the hearings ultimately changed my mind.”
Stevens added, “I’ve never really been a political person.”
Fox News has confirmed Stevens' remarks.
STEVENS SAYS GETTING RID OF SECOND AMENDMENT IS ONLY WAY TO SEE TRUE PROGRESS ON GUN VIOLENCE[4]
The 98-year-old, since retiring, called for the repeal of the Second Amendment[5] in a New York Times op-ed[6] earlier this year. "Overturning that decision
