St. Thomas law professor Mark Osler is one of three former Yale Law classmates and previous supporters of Brett Kavanaugh who are calling for investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against the Supreme Court nominee.
In this Nov. 2, 2014 file photo, law professor Mark Osler addresses his class. Osler is one of three former classmates of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh calling for investigation into accusations of sexual misconduct. (Lauren Smith/TommieMedia).
The Washington Post reported the other two signers were Kent Sinclair and Douglas Rutzen. The three support an investigation into at least two claims of sexual misconduct from the 1980s. All three graduated from Yale Law School with Kavanaugh in 1990.
“(The Senate) should have the FBI try to get information that corroborates one story or the other by interviewing people, by looking at records, by doing those things that the FBI’s good at,” Osler said.
Despite having political differences with Kavanaugh, Osler initially supported his confirmation as a Supreme Court justice in a letter with 23 other signatories to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“When you’re picking judges, and especially when your party has lost an election, you really have to focus on qualifications, and he had a good body of work to stand on,” Osler said.
Kavanaugh and Osler worked together on the Yale Law Journal and, according to Osler, were friends.
Osler said he never heard anything that aligns with the current allegations.
“I never heard these stories, and I never saw anything like that, that he was involved in. That doesn’t mean they’re not true, but I never saw or heard any of that,” Osler said.
According to Osler, being careful with discussion around sexual allegations is important.
“The fact that some people are saying that this kind of behavior is ‘boys will be boys’ or excusable is saying a terrible message,” he said.
Osler has kept his own family in mind when considering the allegations against Kavanaugh.
In this Sept. 5, 2018, file photo, President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh listens to a question while testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
“I have a 16-year-old son, and if he turns on the TV and somebody is saying that this allegation of sexual assault on a woman — a girl at that time — is no big deal, that goes against everything I’ve tried to teach him,” Osler said.
Kavanaugh has denied the allegations. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing Thursday, Sept. 27 to hear from both Kavanaugh and one of the accusers.
Althea Larson can be reached at lars2360@stthomas.edu.
Solveig Rennan and Noah Brown contributed to this report.