An organization that represents over 400,000 legal professionals has urged the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee — and, by extension, the Senate — to hold off confirming Brett Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court judge until after the FBI investigates allegations of sexual assault that date to his teen years.
The American Bar Association (ABA) released on Friday a letter urging Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley and ranking member Dianne Feinstein to vote on Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination “only after an appropriate background check into the allegations made by Prof. Ford and others is completed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
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“We make this request because of the ABA’s respect for the rule of law and due process under law,” the letter, which was tweeted by HuffPost reporter Jennifer Bendery, said.
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“The basic principles that underscore the Senate’s constitutional duty of advice and consent on federal judicial nominees require nothing less than a careful examination of the accusations and facts by the FBI.”
The ABA went on to say that any appointment to the Supreme Court is “simply too important to rush to a vote.”
Any move to vote without investigating Ford’s allegations further would “negatively affect the great trust necessary for the American people to have in the Supreme Court. It must remain an institution that will reliably follow the law and not politics.”
READ MORE: How will senators vote on Brett Kavanaugh? 3 Republicans won’t say, and 1 Democrat is ‘undecided’
As noted by CNN, the letter came after the ABA gave Kavanaugh a “well-qualified” rating for the Supreme Court.
In according Kavanaugh the rating, which was released late last month, the ABA noted that it had evaluated him for qualities such as “integrity, professional competence and judicial temperament.”
The rating came after an “exhaustive evaluation,” the ABA noted.
The judiciary is expected to vote Friday on whether to send Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Senate.
If approved, a vote on confirmation could come early next week.
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