Female Colleagues Defend Kavanaugh Against Feminist Group’s ‘Smear’

Former female colleagues and employees of federal Judge Brett Kavanaugh are defending him against an attack by a liberal feminist group calling for an investigation of whether he knew about the bad behavior of a former boss.

In the early 1990s, Kavanaugh—now President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court seat of retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy—clerked for 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Alex Kozinski. Kozinski retired in December after 15 women, including former clerks and another judge, made sexual harassment allegations against him.

In May 2006, Kozinski spoke in support of Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation for a judgeship on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The liberal group UltraViolet demanded that the Senate Judiciary Committee investigate what Kavanaugh might have known about Kozinski more than 25 years ago.


“Judge Kozinski’s office had a long history of being a toxic and dangerous environment for women,” Karin Roland, chief campaigns officer for UltraViolet, said in a statement. “The American public deserves to know what Kavanaugh saw and heard, and if he did witness or hear about any harassment, what he did or could have done to report it.”

Leslie Fahrenkopf Foley, who was a summer extern in Kozinski’s chambers while Kavanaugh served as a law clerk, defended the high court nominee.

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