A federal panel said Thursday that it doesn’t have the authority to consider the merit of misconduct complaints filed against Justice Brett Kavanaugh for his behavior during his Supreme Court confirmation hearings, and tossed them out.
The Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability of the Judicial Conference of the United States, the federal judiciary’s policy-making body, said in an order Thursday that because the legislation that sets the procedures for handling misconduct complaints does not apply to Supreme Court justices, the committee lacks the authority to consider the merits of the complaints.
“We conclude, as did the Tenth Circuit Judicial Council, that our committee, judicial councils, and chief circuit judges all lack statutory authority to review the merits of complaints against an individual no longer covered under the Act,” the panel of seven judges wrote in its order. “As a Supreme Court justice, Justice Kavanaugh is not a judge subject to the act.”
Federal law and rules for judicial misconduct, the committee said, “unequivocally preclude review of the merits of complaints against a judge who has resigned his or her judicial office and thereafter been confirmed as a justice of the Supreme Court.”
During Kavanaugh’s confirmation battle last year, which was roiled by allegations of sexual misconduct, dozens of complaints were filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Kavanaugh was a judge on the D.C.-based federal appeals court before he was appointed to the Supreme Court.
The complaints, 83 in all, claimed Kavanaugh lied under oath during his confirmation hearings and displayed bias and hostility while testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee. But the 10th Circuit Judicial Council dismissed the complaints because the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act does not cover Supreme Court justices. The law defines “judge” as a federal circuit judge, district judge, bankruptcy judge, or magistrate judge.
Twenty complainants petitioned the 10th Circuit Judicial Council again for review, but the panel affirmed its decision.
Nine complainants then filed petitions appealing the ruling to the Judicial Conduct and Disability Committee.
The panel said that while the plain text of federal law leaves out Supreme Court justices, “its history shows that Congress has not authorized review of complaints against justices of the Supreme Court.”
Kavanaugh was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Trump in July 2018 to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, who retired.
The battle over his confirmation was one of the most contentious in history and was thrust into turmoil after Christine Blasey Ford, a California professor, accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a small gathering in suburban Maryland in the early 1980s while the two were in high school.
Kavanaugh vehemently denied the allegations and fiercely defended himself during a Senate Judiciary Committee in late September, during which he said the accusations were part of a “calculated and orchestrated political hit, fueled with apparent pent-up anger about” Trump and the 2016 presidential election.
His comments led Democratic senators to accuse him of lacking a judicial temperament, but he was ultimately confirmed by the Senate by a slim 50-48 vote.
