Georgia women leaders urge Kemp to rescind support for Judge Kavanaugh to U.S. Supreme Court

ATLANTA — More than 30 women leaders from across Georgia penned have sent a letter to Brian Kemp urging him to rescind his support for the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. Last month, Kemp wrote a letter to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee expressing his support.

The New York Times reported today, Sept. 26, that Judge Kavanaugh was accused by another woman of engaging in sexual misconduct at parties while he was a student at Georgetown Preparatory School in the 1980s.

Julie Swetnick, 55,  said in a statement posted on Twitter by her attorney, Michael Avenatti Swetnick,  that she observed the future Supreme Court nominee at parties where women were verbally abused, inappropriately touched, made “disoriented” with alcohol or drugs and “gang raped.”

Swetnck said she witnessed Judge Kavanaugh participating in some of the misconduct, including lining up outside a bedroom where “numerous boys” were “waiting for their ‘turn’ with a girl inside the room,” The New York Times reported. Swetnick said she was raped at one of the parties, and she believed she had been drugged.

The letter from women leaders in Georgia denouncing Judge Cavanaugh read as follows:

Mr. Kemp:

Last month, you submitted a letter to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in support of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, and in that letter you said Kavanaugh had a “clear understanding of the proper role of a judge” and “all of the personal qualities that we must demand from our Supreme Court justices.”

Recent developments have shown that your praise of Judge Kavanaugh could not be further from the truth.

Not only would Judge Kavanaugh pose a direct threat to Georgia women’s ability to make their own health decisions, he would also follow your lead in allowing insurance companies to deny guaranteed coverage based on pre-existing conditions.

Most importantly, your unwavering support for Judge Kavanaugh’s character was misguided given the credible information brought forth by multiple women and the need for every woman to be heard.

Amid “what all is going on in Washington,” as you put it, your own failure to support Georgia women and your unwillingness to stop sexual assault in Georgia cannot be ignored.

Therefore, we, the undersigned, call on you to immediately retract your support of Judge Kavanaugh.

Tonya Anderson, State Senator

Kenyette Tisha Barnes, Women’s Rights Activist

Debra Bazemore, State Representative

Simone Bell, Former State Representative

Gloria Butler, State Senator

Doreen Carter, State Representative

Perri Chandler, Community Organizer

Toney Chandler, Former Fulton County Public School Counselor

Edith Dee Cofrin, Board of Director, Human Rights Campaign Foundation

Gail Davenport, State Senator

Stephanie Davis, Former Executive Director, Georgia Women for a Change

Rebecca DeHart, Executive Director, Democratic Party of Georgia

Karla Drenner, State Representative

Gloria Frazier, State Representative

Shannon Gaggero, Community Organizer

Michele Henson, State Representative

Carolyn Hugley, House Minority Whip

Donzella James, State Senator

Bianca Keaton, Director of Women’s Outreach, Democratic Party of Georgia

Wanda Mosely, Member, Black Votes Matter

Bee Nguyen, State Representative

Mary Margaret Oliver, State Representative

Sandra Scott, State Representative

Renitta Shannon, State Representative

Erica Thomas, State Representative

Nachelle Thomas, Gwinnett Democratic Women 1st Vice President

Cathy Willis Spraetz, Former President and Chief Executive Officer, Partnership Against Domestic Violence

Vanessa Toro, Women’s Rights Activist

Keisha Waites, State Representative

Adrienne White, Red Clay Democrats Chair

Nikema Williams, State Senator and 1st Vice Chair, Democratic Party of Georgia