U.S. Supreme Court appointee Brett Kavanaugh

Kavanaugh Won’t Be Teaching At Harvard Law Anymore

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is no longer planning to teach at Harvard Law this winter.
“Today, Judge Kavanaugh indicated that he can no longer commit to teaching his course in January Term 2019, so the course will not be offered,” associate dean and dean for academic and faculty affairs Catherine Claypoole wrote in the email to students.
Kavanaugh, who has taught at the law school for about a decade, was slated to teach a course titled “The Supreme Court Since 2005,” according to The Harvard Crimson.
Alumni Call On School To Take Action
Kavanaugh’s decision comes following uproar over allegations of sexual misconduct surrounding the Supreme Court nominee.
Over 800 Harvard Law graduates signed a letter calling for the law school to rescind Kavanaugh’s position as a lecturer, USA Today reports.
“We believe that Judge Kavanaugh’s appointment as an HLS lecturer sends a message to law students, and in particular female students, that powerful men are above the law, and that obstructive, inappropriate behavior will be rewarded,” the letter states. “Judge Kavanaugh is not leadership material, and he is not lectureship material. HLS would be tarnished to have him on campus in any position of authority.”
Additionally, nearly 400 Harvard Law students walked out of their classes last Monday to protest Kavanaugh’s nomination, Law.com reports.
“From our perspective, it feels like a failure by our administration to respond to our students first and to think about what we need to feel supported here and to feel like women are valued here,” Molly Coleman, a Harvard Law student, tells Law.com. “We’ve had walkouts. We’ve had letters to the dean. The student body is immensely concerned about this, and to have so little response sends a strong statement that the students aren’t the priority.”
Yale Law Calls For Investigation 
On Friday, the dean of Yale Law called for further investigation into the sexual-misconduct allegations against Kanavaugh, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports.
“I join the American Bar Association in calling for an additional investigation into allegations made against Judge Kavanaugh,” Heather Gerken, dean of the law school, says in the statement. “Proceeding with the confirmation process without further investigation is not in the best interest of the court or our profession.”
While Dean Gerken has refused to take a position on the nomination of Kavanaugh, she praises the Yale Law community for their response.
“As dean, I cannot take a position on the nomination,” she writes in the statement. “But I am so proud of the work our community is doing to engage with these issues, and I stand with them in supporting the importance of fair process, the rule of law, and the integrity of the legal system.”
The Senate plans to vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination this week.
Sources: Harvard Crimson, USA Today, Law.com, Yale Law, Chronicle of Higher Education