After a day of painful testimony from both Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Dr. Christine Ford, who accused him of misconduct 36 years ago during high school, the Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), representing over 1,000 traditional rabbis in matters of public policy, renewed its call for the confirmation of Judge Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court. The CJV stated that to abandon previous evaluations of Judge Kavanaugh based solely upon uncorroborated testimony would violate both Biblical and accepted modern standards for evidence — and basic fairness as well.
"The Bible not only doubly emphasizes that 'justice, justice shall you pursue,' (Deut. 16:20)," said Rabbi Dov Fischer, West Coast Regional VP of the CJV, "but it also enjoins us to avoid peddling in unsubstantiated rumors (Lev. 19:16). People can easily make mistakes and harm the innocent. Furthermore, we should be judged on the totality of our lives, not merely on one alleged incident, and certainly not on an incident that is unsubstantiated and unprovable."
While appreciating the pain of the events experienced by Dr. Ford, the Rabbis pointed out that the Senate was prepared to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh as an extraordinarily well-qualified candidate until opposing Senators pulled out her initially-anonymous letter as a last-ditch effort to block the vote — and then failed to corroborate her charge.
"Is it now the American way to discard an outstanding candidate," asked Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld, Vice President of the CJV, "based solely upon an uncorroborated, unsubstantiated accusation that is even contradicted by those named to support it? It is immoral to besmirch someone's name in the court of public opinion on 'evidence' that would not stand in a court of law."
The Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), the largest rabbinic public policy organization in America, articulates and advocates for public policy positions based upon traditional Jewish thought.