Catholic magazine un-endorses Brett Kavanaugh, American Bar Association demands an FBI investigation

Brett Kavanaugh loses support — (Image credit: Melina Mara/AFP/Getty Images)

Not everyone was as impressed with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's testimony Thursday as the man who nominated him, President Trump. Hours after the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing adjourned and a Friday morning confirmation vote affirmed, the American Bar Association urged the Senate to hit pause until after an FBI investigation and the prominent Jesuit magazine America rescinded its endorsement of Kavanaugh and urged his nomination withdrawn.

America's editors and the ABA gave similar reasons: Christine Blasey Ford's assault testimony was credible enough to merit a full investigation, and America needs to have confidence in the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh, a Catholic who attended a Jesuit high school, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), his most impassioned supporter, both held up the ABA's unanimous well-qualified rating in Thursday's hearing as a marker of his character and judgment.

"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," ABA president Robert Carlson wrote to the Senate Judiciary Committee. "Deciding to proceed without conducting additional investigation would not only have a lasting impact on the Senate's reputation, but it will also negatively affect the great trust necessary for the American people to have in the Supreme Court."

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America's editors said while they have "no special insight into who is telling the truth," Kavanaugh's nomination "is no longer in the best interests of the country." There are other jurists with "his legal credentials and his reputation as a committed textualist" but whose confirmation wouldn't signal to women that their sexual assault allegations against powerful men don't merit serious investigation, the editorial says. "Judge Kavanaugh continues to enjoy a legal presumption of innocence," but "there is no presumption of confirmability. The best of the bad resolutions available in this dilemma is for Judge Kavanaugh's nomination to be withdrawn." Read the entire editorial at America.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.