Yale Student Says She Was Warned Brett Kavanaugh Liked Female Law Clerks Who Had a 'Certain Look’
A Yale Law School student says she was once advised while interviewing for clerkships that Judge Brett Kavanaugh liked his female clerks to have a “certain look.”
The woman, who asked to remain anonymous due to privacy concerns, told HuffPost that she received the advice from the nationally known married professors Jed Rubenfeld and Amy Chua, the latter of whom wrote the controversial book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.
The woman says Rubenfeld initially warned her about Alex Kozinski, the disgraced former federal judge whom Kavanaugh clerked for, and who retired in December amid accusations of sexual harassment. The law student says Rubenfeld then told her about Kavanaugh’s alleged preferences where female clerks were concerned, but emphasized that he hadn’t heard anything untoward.
“He did not say what the ‘certain look’ was. I did not ask,” the woman said. “It was very clear to me that he was talking about physical appearance, because it was phrased as a warning — and because it came after the warning about Judge Kozinski.”
Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump‘s Supreme Court nominee, has been accused by Christine Blasey Ford of pinning her down to a bed, groping her and trying to remove her clothes at a high school party in the early 1980s. Kavanaugh, 53, has denied the allegation. He and Ford, a 51-year-old research psychologist and professor at Palo Alto University, are both slated to testify on the matter before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday.
The Yale Law student went on to tell HuffPost that she had “mixed feelings” about Rubenfeld’s advice but ultimately decided to interview with Kavanaugh.
“On the one hand, it’s a yellow flag; on the other hand, phew, I hadn’t heard anything else,” she said.
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That’s when Chua stepped in and, according to the student, suggested that she “dress ‘outgoing’ ” for the interview with Kavanaugh.
“She strongly urged me to send her pictures of what I was thinking of wearing so she could evaluate. I did not,” the woman said.
Reached for comment on the account, Chua did not deny it but told HuffPost, “For the more than ten years I’ve known him, Judge Kavanaugh’s first and only litmus test in hiring has been excellence.”
If you or someone you care about is affected by sexual violence, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
