American Bar Association Re-Evaluating Brett Kavanaugh Rating, Per ‘Business Insider’

Following Brett Kavanaugh’s performance at the Senate hearing last week, the American Bar Association has announced that they will be re-evaluating the previous rating of “well-qualified” for his nomination to the Supreme Court.

As reported by Business Insider, the announcement came just hours before the Senate was due to vote to advance Kavanaugh’s confirmation, despite the sexual assault allegations against him.

Last week, the world heard the testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who claims Kavanaugh and a friend of his sexually assaulted her in 1982, when she was just 15-years-old. Throughout her entire testimony and questioning, she remained calm despite the obvious trauma she was reliving.

When it was Kavanaugh’s turn, however, he was anything but the calm and collected persona that would be expected from a judge in the highest court in the land. Instead, he yelled and he cried, in a display that would have earned him the description “hysterical” had he been a woman. During the testimony, he accused Dr. Ford and the Democrats of a conspiracy against him as revenge for his role as an associate counsel in the Justice Department investigating President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky in the 1990’s and asked Sen. Amy Klobuchar if she had a drinking problem.

Shortly afterwards, many people questioned whether someone who behaves in that manner during testimony can possibly be fit for the job, even if it turns out he did not sexually assault Dr. Ford.

ABA says it is reopening evaluation of Kavanaugh’s well-qualified rating, which the GOP hailed during confirmation process. It says it is evaluating “temperament” issues pic.twitter.com/ipbrhMgtDW

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 5, 2018

According to the letter from the American Bar Association, their reason for re-evaluating Kavanaugh’s rating is related to his behavior during his testimony.

“New information of a material nature regarding temperament during the September 27th hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee has prompted a re-opening of the Standing Committee’s evaluation.”

The did, however, add that the committee would not be likely to reach a conclusion prior to the Senate vote and that in the meantime their rating should stand as it currently is.

The National Council of Churches, former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, and more than 1,000 law professors have all publicly spoken out against his confirmation since.

Stevens, speaking at an event in Florida, explained his change of heart.

“At that time, I thought (Kavanaugh) had the qualifications for the Supreme Court should he be selected. 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.”