D.C. Circuit refers ethics complaints about Kavanaugh to Chief Justice Roberts
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/dc-circuit-sent-complaints-about-kavanaughs-testimony-to-chief-justice-roberts/2018/10/06/c7e7b526-c8d0-11e8-b1ed-1d2d65b86d0c_story.html?utm_term=.8d86e90d30fb
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has received more than a dozen judicial misconduct complaints against Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh in recent weeks but has chosen
for the time being not to refer them to a judicial panel for investigation.
A judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit — the court on which Kavanaugh serves — sent a string of complaints to Roberts starting three weeks ago, according to four
people familiar with the matter. That judge, Karen LeCraft Henderson, had dismissed other complaints against Kavanaugh as frivolous, but she concluded that some were substantive
enough that they should not be handled by Kavanaugh’s fellow judges in the D.C. Circuit.
In a statement Saturday, Henderson acknowledged the complaints and said they centered on statements Kavanaugh made during his Senate confirmation hearings. Under the law,
“any person may file a misconduct complaint in the circuit in which the federal judge sits,” she said in the statement. “The complaints do not pertain to any conduct in which Judge
Kavanaugh engaged as a judge. The complaints seek investigations only of the public statements he has made as a nominee to the Supreme Court of the United States.”
People familiar with the matter say the allegations made in the complaints — that Kavanaugh was dishonest and lacked judicial temperament in his Senate testimony — had already
been widely discussed in the Senate and in the public realm. Roberts did not see an urgent need for them to be resolved by the judicial branch while he continued to review the
incoming complaints, they said.
The situation is highly unusual, legal experts and several people familiar with the matter said. Never before has a Supreme Court nominee been poised to join the court while a fellow
judge recommends that a series of misconduct claims against that nominee warrant review.
Roberts’s decision not to immediately refer the cases to another appeals court has caused some concern in the legal community. If Kavanaugh is confirmed, legal experts say, the
details of the misconduct complaints against him may not become public and instead will be dismissed. Supreme Court justices are not subject to the misconduct rules governing
these claims.
Roberts, an appointee of President George W. Bush, has for many years hired Kavanaugh clerks to work for him at the Supreme Court. Bush credits Kavanaugh in his book with helping
him choose Roberts for the high court when Kavanaugh was a White House lawyer. Normally misconduct complaints are confidential and do not become public until they are fully
investigated and concluded.
Henderson, who was nominated to the bench by President George H.W. Bush, stepped in to review Kavanaugh’s complaints because Chief Judge Merrick Garland — who was
nominated to the Supreme Court by President Barack Obama but was blocked by Senate Republicans — recused himself from the matter.
The way the complaints against Kavanaugh are being dealt with is unusual, because Henderson concluded the D.C. Circuit cannot properly handle the investigation, referring them to
the chief justice. This is only done in exceptional circumstances, under the judiciary’s rules on misconduct.
This news flew under the radar a bit given the more pressing story but it's impressive to see Merrick Garland show more integrity with one decision than the entire Republican party has show in 10+ years.
Honestly I don't care if he's not the most liberal judge, that dude deserves a spot on the court if the democrats win.
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