Kavanaugh turns down nearly $600G raised online for his defense: reports

FILE - The Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Associated Press)

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh has reportedly turned down nearly $600,000 that had been raised in his name after sexual misconduct allegations were leveled against him during his confirmation process.

A GoFundMe page through which the funds were raised had a message saying Kavanaugh would not accept the money in order to avoid judicial ethics violations, the Washington Examiner reported.

“I've spoken to a former clerk for Judge Kavanaugh who told me that Kavanaugh’s supporters loved the outpouring of support from this GoFundMe," said conservative blogger John Hawkins, who launched the page Sept. 24. "Judicial ethics rules caution judges against permitting the use of the prestige of judicial office for fund-raising purposes. Justice Kavanaugh will not accept any proceeds from the campaign, nor will he direct that any proceeds from the campaign be provided to any third party."

The page launched one day after the New Yorker published allegations from Deborah Ramirez, who claimed Kavanaugh exposed himself to her while they were in college, and a week after Christine Blasey Ford accused him of trying to force himself on her, also decades ago.

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Hawkins said he received a statement from the law clerk several days ago saying Kavanaugh was not able to accept the money and said Kavanaugh requested that Hawkins discontinue the use of his name for any fund-raising purposes.

Instead, Hawkins said he will donate the money to the Archdiocese of Washington, which operates the Catholic Youth Organization where Kavanaugh used to coach a girls’ basketball team.

The page is no longer accepting donations.

In an interview with Yahoo!, Hawkins said the idea for a Kavanaugh fundraiser page came from a conversation with a woman who noticed all the pages that had been launched on behalf of Ford.

“I was talking to a woman and … she was like, ‘Christine Blasey Ford has these GoFundMes up; I wish someone would do a GoFundMe for Brett Kavanaugh," Hawkins said.

President Trump nominated Kavanaugh for the nation's highest court in July, after Justice Anthony Kennedy announced plans to retire from his lifetime appointment. After a contentious confirmation process, the U.S. Senate voted to 50-48 on Oct. 6 to confirm Kavanaugh's nomination.