Freshman Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) criticized Democrats’ renewed calls to impeach Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and subsequently sabotage the federal judiciary.
“You know, they want to impeach Justice Kavanaugh, they want to pack the Supreme Court, I mean, talk about destroying any institution that they can’t control — it is really unbelievable,” Hawley said during an interview with Hill.TV on Monday. “This is a Democratic Party that increasingly is at war with the American Constitution.”
“I mean, they’re willing to destroy an entire branch of government,” he continued. “The independent judiciary, they want to destroy it. Why? Because it won’t rule the way they want it to. I mean, is there anything more dangerous to constitutional government than that way of thinking?”
Hawley’s remarks come after a host of high-profile Democratic lawmakers have begun calling anew for Kavanaugh’s impeachment, following a new sexual misconduct allegation. Only days earlier, The New York Times published a report alleging that a friend of the Supreme Court justice pushed his genitalia into the hand of a female student while attending a party at Yale University in the 1980s.
After publication, the Times issued an editor’s note stating that the alleged victim reportedly did not recall the incident. The omissions received massive backlash.
Despite the flubbed report, the majority of Democratic presidential candidates stood by their earlier impeachment calls, including Sens. Kamala Harris (D-CA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX), South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and former U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro.
Kavanagh’s impeachment was also endorsed by members of the so-called “Squad,” even after the report was revealed to have been botched. While Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) tweeted their support for forcing the justice to step down, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) went even further, introducing a resolution calling for an impeachment inquiry to begin.
“I believe Christine Blasey Ford. I believe Deborah Ramirez. It is our responsibility to collectively affirm the dignity and humanity of survivors,” Pressley wrote in a statement to Boston Public radio station WBUR.
“Sexual predators do not deserve a seat on the nation’s highest court and Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation process set a dangerous precedent,” the statement continued. “We must demand justice for survivors and hold Kavanaugh accountable for his actions.”
Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court in October 2018 after a contentious confirmation process that was largely viewed as an orchestrated smear campaign against the Republican judicial nominee.
Despite multiple investigations into Kavanaugh by both the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and the FBI, as well as independent journalistic investigations, none of the sexual misconduct allegations have ever been corroborated.
“My message to my Democratic colleagues would be, look: It is an independent judiciary. Sooner or later, you’ll have your chance to appoint judges to the bench and you should appoint qualified judges to do so,” Hawley said. “But don’t destroy people and institutions in order to try and get your way.”
“I mean, that’s just not who we are as Americans,” he added.