4 Oct 2018 9:11 pm
I don't believe I have ever seen a former Supreme Court Justice comment on a current nominee.
Retired Justice John Paul Stevens calls Kavanaugh's temperament disqualifying: 'Senators should pay attention to this.'
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 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.
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.
“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.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/retire ... on-to-this