‘Squad’ Member Ayanna Pressley to Introduce Resolution of Impeachment Against Justice Brett Kavanaugh

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), a member of the so-called “Squad” of female freshmen lawmakers, will introduce a resolution Tuesday calling for an impeachment inquiry against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh after a New York Times piece claimed a new allegation of sexual misconduct against him.

“I believe Christine Blasey Ford. I believe Deborah Ramirez. It is our responsibility to collectively affirm the dignity and humanity of survivors,” she said in a statement, according to WBUR.

Pressley’s three-paragraph resolution would authorize an impeachment inquiry, call for a committee or task force to be empowered to conduct depositions and issue subpoenas, and authorize funding for the probe, according to the outlet.

“Sexual predators do not deserve a seat on the nation’s highest court and Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation process set a dangerous precedent,” she said. “We must demand justice for survivors and hold Kavanaugh accountable for his actions.”

Pressley is reportedly planning to introduce the resolution even after the Times walked back part of the claim.

The authors of the Times piece, who recently published a book on Kavanaugh, claimed there was an eyewitness, fellow Yale classmate Max Stier, who had alleged Kavanaugh’s friends pushed his penis into the hand of a female student.

Later, the piece was clarified to say that the female student declined to be interviewed, and her friends said she did not recall the incident.

Two other members of the “Squad,” Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), have also called for Kavanaugh’s impeachment, although Omar’s call came before the Times‘ clarification. Ocasio-Cortez called for his impeachment in a tweet Monday after the clarification, which she deleted but then reposted.

Many of the 2020 Democrats had called for Kavanaugh’s impeachment before the clarification, including former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro (D), Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX), and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D).

Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) supported congressional action but did not explicitly call for impeachment.

The issue is firing up both the right and the left. Kavanaugh was confirmed after another accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, had claimed he had drunkenly held her down and groped her at a high school party.