Yale Law students, alumni decry Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination: 'People will die'

Judge Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump's Supreme Court nominee stands in the East Room of the White House, Monday, July 9, 2018. (AP)

President Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh, would be the fourth graduate of Yale Law School on the bench, but a group of Yale Law students and alumni say “people will die if he is confirmed.”

More than 400 upset alumni, students and educators are calling for “moral courage” from the Ivy League school in an open letter online to condemn Kavanaugh, fearing that he would overturn Roe v. Wade, harm the environment, twist the First Amendment, and “act as a rubber stamp for President Trump’s fraud and abuse,” The College Fix reported.

“Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination presents an emergency — for democratic life, for our safety and freedom, for the future of our country,” the letter states. “Is there nothing more important to Yale Law School than its proximity to power and prestige?”

While Yale told Fox News they do not comment on online petitions, the Dean of Yale Law School, Heather Gerken, the person to whom the letter is addressed, publicly praised the D.C. Circuit judge and 1990 Yale Law School graduate in a statement Monday following Trump’s public address at the White House.

Yale Law School Dean Heather Gerken praised President Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh, calling him a "longtime friend" and someone she has "admired." (Handout)

“I have known Brett Kavanaugh for many years," Gerken said. “I can personally attest that, in addition to his government and judicial service, Judge Kavanaugh has been a longtime friend to many of us in the Yale Law School community. Ever since I joined the faculty, I have admired him for serving as a teacher and mentor to our students and for hiring a diverse set of clerks, in all respects, during his time on the court.”

Yale Constitutional law professor Akhil Reed Amar praised Kavanaugh in an op-ed for the New York Times, titled “A Liberal’s Case for Brett Kavanaugh,” writing that this is Trump’s “finest hour, his classiest move.”

“I supported Merrick Garland. I voted for Hillary Clinton, but…I can’t think of anyone better [than Kavanaugh],” Amar said on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”

Kavanaugh would join fellow Yale Law School alums and current Justices Clarence Thomas, Sonia Sotomayor and Samuel Alito if he makes it through the heated confirmation process, despite Democratic leaders promising to block him -- something Yale Law School Professor Abbe R. Gluck noted in her praise for Kavanaugh.

“Politics have deeply harmed our Supreme Court nomination process," Gluck said. "But in terms of the man now before us, Brett Kavanaugh is a true intellectual -- a leading thinker and writer on the subjects of statutory interpretation and federal courts; an incomparable mentor -- someone who picks law clerks of all backgrounds and viewpoints; and a fair-minded jurist who believes in the rule of law.  He is humble, collegial and cares deeply about the federal courts."