Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh will not accept a $600,000 award from a GoFundMe page established to support him as he faced allegations of sexual misconduct from several women.
Conservative blogger John Hawkins, who launched the GoFundMe effort on Sept. 24, received a statement from former Kavanaugh law clerk Travis Lenkner indicating that the justice was flattered by the support but precluded from accepting the donations.
“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 statement reads. “Although he appreciates the sentiment, Justice Kavanaugh requests that you discontinue the use of his name for any fund-raising purpose.”
Supreme Court justices are not bound by the Code of Judicial Conduct, but ethics rules generally preclude judges from using their name and likeness for fundraising purposes.
Hawkins hoped the donations would finance personal security for the Kavanaugh family and legal expenses incurred to mount the judge’s defense. Mrs. Ashley Kavanaugh received several death threats at her professional email address during the confirmation process, and the U.S. Marshal’s Service told reporters that they were tracking an uptick in threats against the family.
After researching charities Brett Kavanaugh has supported in the past, Hawkins decided to donate the proceeds to three organizations run by the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.: the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO), the Tuition Assistance Fund and the Victory Youth Center. (RELATED: Supremely Romantic: Letter Reveals William Rehnquist Once Proposed To Sandra Day O’Connor)
Protesters wearing black veils leave the Hart Senate Office Building on the fourth day of Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., Sept. 7, 2018. REUTERS/Chris Wattie
Brett Kavanaugh coached ladies basketball in the CYO and volunteers with the St. Maria’s Meals program, which serves hot dinners to the capital’s poor. The judge was spotted working a buffet line for St. Maria’s two days after his nomination to the high court in July.
Some 13,000 individuals made donations to the GoFundMe page. Similar pages were established to support Christine Blasey Ford and others who accused Brett Kavanaugh of various sexual predations.
An earlier version of the article misidentified the individual responsible for creating the GoFundMe page. His name is John Hawkins, not Josh Hawkins.
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