Human Rights Watch calls for halt to Kavanaugh vote
Human Rights Watch is urging the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to halt the vote on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, scheduled for Friday morning.
"This nomination process has been flawed from the start," Nicole Austin-Hillery, U.S. program director at the organization, said Wednesday in a release. "To proceed with a vote before Kavanaugh's full record can be examined, especially in light of these sexual assault allegations, only compounds the serious concerns we already had about his nomination."
On Wednesday, Attorney Michael Avenatti revealed the identity of a third woman to accuse Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, Julie Swetnick. While Swetnick does not accuse Kavanaugh of assaulting her, she does allege that he and his friend Mark Judge were present at a party when she was gang raped by a series of boys after her drink was spiked.
Kavanaugh has denied all the allegations. He and the first accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, are set to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. The committee is set to vote on whether to move forward with this nomination on Friday morning.
Human Rights Watch said it had previously expressed concern about "the lack of transparency in the nomination process, and about the human rights protections at stake given Kavanaugh's record." In August, the organization issued an analysis of Kavanaugh's available record "and expressed serious concern he would interpret the US Constitution in ways that could erode federal protections for a range of fundamental human rights," it said Wednesday.
"Human Rights Watch has also expressed concern that Senate leadership did not request millions of pages of documents relating to years when Kavanaugh held senior positions at the White House, and that many requested documents had not been produced in time for his hearing that began on September 4," it said. "To date, millions of pages have still not been produced or are being withheld from the public."
