Some law students walked out of classes Wednesday afternoon to protest the confirmation of Brett M. Kavanaugh as a U.S. Supreme Court justice.
Kavanaugh was confirmed last week after a polarizing nomination process that included allegations he had engaged in sexual misconduct decades earlier as a teenager. He has garnered admiration from some for his work as a judge. But his nomination also sparked protests from law students and others. After Kavanaugh testified at a Senate hearing recently, more than 2,600 law professors signed a letter saying the appearance of his lack of judicial restraint was disqualifying.
Kavanaugh joined the Supreme Court bench this week.
“We are in the middle of a national emergency,” student organizers wrote in a letter announcing the demonstration, which was coordinated with the National Lawyers Guild advocacy group. “We do not recognize Kavanaugh as a legitimate member of the United States Supreme Court.” They called on students to leave classes from Wednesday afternoon through Friday, and wrote, “We demand that anyone seeking to be elected to Congress in November commits to impeaching Kavanaugh to protect any semblance of rule of law and the people of our communities.”
Some students said they wouldn’t be able to miss classes, ignored the effort or questioned the strategy because Kavanaugh had already been confirmed.
But others made posters and marched in New York, with social media saying that students from New York University School of Law and the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law were among those participating.
#StrikeAgainstKavanaugh walkout in NYC is many blocks long, hundreds of law students just from Cardozo and NYU law schools, headed to Washington Square to meet up with Brooklyn Law now. pic.twitter.com/tEhcztUFxk
— Keegan Stephan (@KeeganNYC) October 10, 2018