Brett Kavanaugh. (Photo: Andrew Harrer, Bloomberg)

 

Brett Kavanaugh will not teach a two-week course on the Supreme Court at Harvard Law School, as he was scheduled to do in January.

An associate dean from the law school emailed students late Monday to inform them that the embattled Supreme Court nominee would be unable to teach the class, called The Supreme Court Since 2005, and that it would be canceled.

“Today, Judge Kavanaugh indicated that he can no longer commit to teaching his course in January Term 2019, so the course will not be offered,” wrote Catherine Claypoole, associate dean and dean for academic and faculty affairs, in her email, which was first reported by the Harvard Crimson. (A law school spokeswoman confirmed the authenticity of the email on Monday but declined further comment.)

That announcement comes after a week and a half of pressure from students asking the law school to call for a full and fair investigation of Christine Blasey Ford's allegations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh and an examination of the nominee's teaching position at the law school. Nearly 400 law students walked out of class last week in protest of Kavanaugh's confirmation process. Kavanaugh himself said during his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday that he may never be able to teach again due to the allegations against him.

“I'm thrilled to see the power of student organizing,” said second-year student Molly Coleman, who has helped to organize student opposition. “I hope that this is the first of many concrete steps the school takes to respond to the very serious concerns that students have magnified over the last few weeks. I also hope that this serves as a reminder to the Senate of how concerning these allegations (and what we saw in Judge Kavanaugh's hearing last week) are, and how seriously they need to be taken.”

Claypoole's email did not specify the reason that Kavanaugh pulled out of the class. But the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in January, when the class was scheduled.

 

Read more:

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