Roberts asks for review of complaints against Kavanaugh

WASHINGTON—Chief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday asked the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to look into more than a dozen ethics complaints against newly seated Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The complaints centered on Kavanaugh’s emotional testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 27 in response to Christine Blasey Ford’s accusations of sexual assault that she said occurred while they were in high school. Kavanaugh, who denies the accusations, later wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed in which he said he may have been “too emotional” during his testimony. After the testimony, more than 2,400 law professors signed a letter expressing concerns that Kavanaugh “displayed a lack of judicial temperament that would be disqualifying for any court.”

Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where Kavanaugh previously served, dismissed some of the complaints as frivolous but settled on around a dozen as significant enough to warrant further investigation. She referred the complaints to Roberts, who directed the 10th Circuit to review them.