'No Accident' Brett Kavanaugh's Female Law Clerks 'Looked Like Models,' Yale
Professor Told Students
By Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Jessica Glenza, Guardian UK
20 September 18
Guardian learns Amy Chua said she would advise students on their physical
looks to help win post in Kavanaugh's chambers
Atop professor at Yale Law School who strongly endorsed supreme court
nominee Brett Kavanaugh as a "mentor to women" privately told a group of law
students last year that it was "not an accident" that Kavanaugh's female law
clerks all "looked like models" and would provide advice to students about
their physical appearance if they wanted to work for him, the Guardian has
learned.
Amy Chua, a Yale professor who wrote a bestselling book on parenting called
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, was known for instructing female law
students who were preparing for interviews with Kavanaugh on ways they could
dress to exude a "model-like" femininity to help them win a post in
Kavanaugh's chambers, according to sources.
Kavanaugh is facing intense scrutiny in Washington following an allegation
made by Christine Blasey Ford that he forcibly held her down and groped her
while they were in high school. He has denied the allegation. The accusation
has mired Kavanaugh's confirmation in controversy, drawing parallels to
allegations of sexual harassment against Justice Clarence Thomas by Anita
Hill in the 1990s.
Yale provided Kavanaugh with many of the judge's clerks over the years, and
Chua played an outsized role in vetting the clerks who worked for him. But
the process made some students deeply uncomfortable.
One source said that in at least one case, a law student was so put off by
Chua's advice about how she needed to look, and its implications, that she
decided not to pursue a clerkship with Kavanaugh, a powerful member of the
judiciary who had a formal role in vetting clerks who served in the US
supreme court.
In one case, Jed Rubenfeld, also an influential professor at Yale and who is
married to Chua, told a prospective clerk that Kavanaugh liked a certain
"look".
"He told me, 'You should know that Judge Kavanaugh hires women with a
certain look,'" one woman told the Guardian. "He did not say what the look
was and I did not ask."
Sources who spoke to the Guardian about their experiences with Chua and
Rubenfeld would only speak under the condition of anonymity because they
feared retribution and damage to their future careers.
Chua advised the same student Rubenfeld spoke to that she ought to dress in
an "outgoing" way for her interview with Kavanaugh, and that the student
should send Chua pictures of herself in different outfits before going to
interview. The student did not send the photos.
There is no allegation that the female students who worked for Kavanaugh
were chosen because of their physical appearance or that they were not
qualified.
However, the remarks from Chua and Rubenfeld raise questions about why the
couple believed it was important to emphasize the students' physical
appearance when discussing jobs with Kavanaugh. The couple were not known to
do that in connection with other judges, sources said.
"It is possible that they were making observations but not following edicts
from him," said one student who received such instructions. "I have no
reason to believe he was saying, 'Send me the pretty ones', but rather that
he was reporting back and saying, 'I really like so and so,' and the way he
described them led them to form certain conclusions."
Kavanaugh is close to Justice Anthony Kennedy, whose retirement from the
supreme court left an opening, and Kavanaugh was one of three judges who
vetted clerks to serve in Kennedy's chambers. His role as a so-called
"feeder" judge made his clerkships among the most coveted posts for law
students across the country, but especially at his alma mater, Yale.
According to one source, Chua invited a group of students that she mentored
to a bar last year to catch up and discuss their plans for clerkships. The
conversation turned to a high-profile #MeToo case that was emerging in the
news at the time involving a well-known public figure.
The group began to talk about whether the federal judiciary would ever face
similar scrutiny, and, according to a source, Chua said she did not believe
it would. She told the students she had known about allegedly abusive and
harassing behavior by another judge, Alex Kozinski, who was head of the
ninth circuit and was forced to retire from the bench last year after more
than a dozen women accused him of harassment.
The conversation then turned to Kozinski's protege and good friend
Kavanaugh, who one source said was a familiar name even though he had not
yet been nominated to the high court. Chua allegedly told the students that
it was "no accident" that Kavanaugh's female clerks "looked like models".
Student reacted with surprise, and quickly pointed out that Chua's own
daughter was due to clerk for Kavanaugh.
A source said that Chua quickly responded, saying that her own daughter
would not put up with any inappropriate behaviour.
Chua has cancelled her classes at Yale this semester and, according to her
office, has been hospitalised and is not taking calls. Rubenfeld sent an
email to the Yale Law School community that said his wife had been ill and
in hospital and had a long period of recuperation ahead of her.
The Guardian has learned that Rubenfeld is currently the subject of an
internal investigation at Yale. The investigation is focused on Rubenfeld's
conduct, particularly with female law students. Students have also raised
related concerns to Yale authorities about Chua's powerful influence in the
clerkships process. The investigation was initiated before Kavanaugh was
nominated by Donald Trump to serve on the high court.
Rubenfeld said in a statement to the Guardian: "In June, Yale University
informed me that it would conduct what it terms an 'informal review' of
certain allegations, but that to preserve anonymity, I was not entitled to
know any specifics. As a result, I do not know what I am alleged to have
said or done. I was further advised that the allegations were not of the
kind that would jeopardize my position as a long-tenured member of the
faculty.
"For some years, I have contended with personal attacks and false
allegations in reaction to my writing on difficult and controversial but
important topics in the law. I have reason to suspect I am now facing more
of the same. While I believe strongly that universities must conduct
appropriate reviews of any allegations of misconduct, I am also deeply
concerned about the intensifying challenges to the most basic values of due
process and free, respectful academic expression and exchange at Yale and
around the country.
"Nevertheless, I stand ready to engage with this process in the hope that it
can be expeditiously concluded."
In a statement, Yale Law School said it could not confirm or deny the
existence of an internal investigation.
A Yale Law School official said in an emailed statement: "This is the first
we have heard claims that Professor Chua coached students to look 'like
models'. We will look into these claims promptly, taking into account the
fact that Professor Chua is currently unreachable due to serious illness. If
true, this advice is clearly unacceptable."
The official added: "I can assure you that we take allegations of faculty
misconduct very seriously."
Chua and her husband are towering figures at Yale and were described by one
student as being the centre of gravity at the elite law school, connecting
students to jobs and clerkships, and rewarding loyalty.
The couple wrote a controversial book together in 2014 called The Triple
Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural
Groups in America. It said that a mix of feeling superior with some
insecurity were two traits that led to success. It also emphasised the need
for "impulse control".
The couple have hired a well-known crisis communications expert but he did
not respond to specific questions from the Guardian about Chua's remarks or
the internal investigation.
In an emailed statement, Chua told the Guardian: "For the more than 10 years
I've known him, Judge Kavanaugh's first and only litmus test in hiring has
been excellence. He hires only the most qualified clerks, and they have been
diverse as well as exceptionally talented and capable.
"There is good reason so many of them have gone on to supreme court
clerkships; he only hires those who are extraordinarily qualified. As I
wrote in the Wall Street Journal, he has also been an exceptional mentor to
his female clerks and a champion of their careers. Among my proudest moments
as a parent was the day I learned our daughter would join those ranks."
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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