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LAW SCHOOL FACULTY: Senate should not confirm Kavanaugh

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A letter, signed by more than 2,400 law school professors from around the nation, says the U. S. Senate should not confirm Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. Sixty-one professors at law schools in North Carolina signed the letter.
The following is a letter, signed by more than 2,400 law school professors from around the nation, that was presented to the U. S. Senate earlier this week. Below the text are the names of 61 faculty at law schools in North Carolina who signed the letter.
Judicial temperament is one of the most important qualities of a judge. As the Congressional Research Service explains, to be a judge requires that an individual have “a personality that is evenhanded, unbiased, impartial, courteous yet firm, and dedicated to a process, not a result.” The concern for judicial temperament dates back to our founding; in Federalist Paper 78, entitled “Judges as Guardians of the Constitution, ” Alexander Hamilton expressed the need for “the integrity and moderation of the judiciary.”
We are law professors who teach, research, and write about the judicial institutions of this country. Many of us appear in state and federal court, and our work means that we will continue to do so, including before the United States Supreme Court. We regret that we feel compelled to write to you to provide our views that at the Senate hearings on Thursday, September 27,2018, the Honorable Brett Kavanaugh displayed a lack of judicial temperament that would be disqualifying for any court, and certainly for elevation to the highest court of this land.
The question at issue was of course painful for anyone. But Judge Kavanaugh exhibited a lack of commitment to judicious inquiry. Instead of being open to the necessary search for accuracy, Judge Kavanaugh was repeatedly aggressive with questioners. Even in his prepared remarks, Judge Kavanaugh located the hearing as a partisan question, referring to it as “a calculated and orchestrated political hit,” rather than acknowledging the need for the Senate, faced with new information, to try to understand what had transpired. Instead of trying to sort out with reason and care the allegations that were raised, Judge Kavanaugh responded in an intemperate, inflammatory, and partial manner, as he interrupted and, at times, was discourteous to questioners.
As you know, under two statutes governing bias and recusal, judges must step aside if they are at risk of being perceived as or of being unfair. See 28 U. S. C. §§ 144,455. As this Congress has put it, a judge or justice “shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.” 28 USC § 455. These statutes are part of a myriad of legal commitments to the impartiality of the judiciary, which is the cornerstone of the courts.
“We have differing views about the other qualifications of Judge Kavanaugh. But we are united, as professors of law and scholars of judicial institutions, in believing that Judge Kavanaugh did not display the impartiality and judicial temperament requisite to sit on the highest court of our land.”
Signed, with institutional affiliation listed for identification purposes only.
CAMPBELL UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW
TUNEEN CHISOLM; Assistant Professor of Law
ANTHONY GHIOTTO; Assistant Professor of Law
DUKE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW
MATTHEW ADLER; Professor of Law
KATHARINE T. BARTLETT: A. Kenneth Pye Professor of Law
LAWRENCE BAXTER; David T. Zhang Professor of the Practice of Law
KATHRYN W. BRADLEY; Professor of the Practice of Law
ERIKA BUELL; Clinical Professor of Law
SAMUEL BUELL; Professor of Law
ERIKA BUELL; Clinical Professor of Law
ANDREW H. FOSTER; Clinical Professor of Law
BRANDON GARRETT; Professor of Law
SARA S. GREENE; Associate Professor of Law
LISA KERN GRIFFIN; Professor of Law
LAURENCE R. HELFER; Professor of Law
TRINA JONES; Jerome M. Culp Professor of Law
JAMIE T. LAU; Associate Clinical Professor of Law
MARGARET LEMOS; Professor of Law
THOMAS B. METZLOFF; Professor of Law
RALF MICHAELS; Arthur Larson Professor of Law
JEDEDIAH PURDY; Everett Professor of Law
THOMAS D. ROWE, JR.; Elvin R. Latty Professor of Law Emeritus
RICHARD SCHMALBECK; Professor of Law
CHRISTOPHER SCHROEDER; Charles S. Murphy Professor of Law
CASEY THOMSON; Clinical Professor of Law
JEFF WARD; Associate Clinical Professor of Law
JANE WETTACH; William B. McGuire Clinical Professor of Law
ELON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW
ERIC M. FINK; Associate Professor of Law
DAVID S. LEVINE; Associate Professor
TOM NOBLE; Assistant Professor of Law
CATHERINE J. WASSON; Associate Professor of Law
NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW
APRIL G. DAWSON; Professor of Law
ANGELA GILMORE; Professor of Law
DOROTHY D. NACHMAN; Associate Professor of Law
KIA VERNON; Associate Professor of Law
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA SCHOOL OF LAW
JOHN CHARLES BOGER; Emeritus Professor of Law
PATRICIA L. BRYAN; Professor of Law
ANDREW CHIN; Professor of Law
BARBARA FEDDERS; Assistant Professor of Law
HOLNING LAU; Willie P. Mangum Distinguished Professor of Law
JONAS MONAST; Assistant Professor
ERIC L. MULLER; Dan K. Moore Distinguished Professor in Jurisprudence and Ethics
GENE NICHOL; Boyd Tinselly Professor of Law
KATHRYN A. SABBETH; Associate Professor of Law
JUDITH WELCH WEGNER; Burton Craige Professor Emerita
DEBORAH M. WEISSMAN; Reef C. Ivey II Distinguished Professor of Law
ERIKA K. WILSON; Associate Professor of Law, UNC
WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW
JONATHAN CARDI; Professor of Law
MICHAEL KENT CURTIS; Judge Donald Smith Professor of Law
RUSSELL GOLD; Associate Professor of Legal Analysis, Writing, and Research
RAINA HAQUE; Professor of Practice
CHRISTOPHER A. KNOTT; Associate Dean
JOHN H. KNOX; Professor of Law
HAROLD ANTHONY LLOYD; Professor of Legal Writing
TANYA D. MARSH; Professor of Law
REBECCA MORROW; Professor of Law
J. WILSON PARKER; Professor of Law
WENDY PARKER; James A. Webster Professor of Public Law
THOMAS E.

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