Why Law Students Across The Country Are Striking Against Kavanaugh For 3 Days

Brett Kavanaugh has already taken his seat on the Supreme Court, but for the next generation of lawyers, that's not the end of the story. Students on law campuses across the nation plan on participating in a national three-day strike starting Wednesday, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported. And the law students' strike over Kavanaugh hopes to grab congressional candidates' attention ahead of the midterm elections.

Students with the National Lawyers Guild penned an open letter calling for the strike, scheduled to begin at 2:15 PM EST on Wednesday and last through Friday. The student protesters plan on walking out to participate in a strike against Kavanaugh while demanding that current congressional candidates commit publicly to impeaching Trump's second SCOTUS pick.

"We are in the middle of a national emergency. Brett Kavanaugh has been confirmed to the Supreme Court," the letter, written by The Strike Against Kavanaugh Organizing Committee, began. "We cannot accept a system that empowers a man who repeatedly lied under oath and a judiciary review process that only performs a sham of an investigation into his misconduct. We do not recognize Kavanaugh as a legitimate member of the United States Supreme Court."

The announcement came on Indigenous Peoples' Day this past Monday when the strike committee recognized the "ongoing harm indigenous people have suffered under the American legal system." The website for National Lawyers Guild said that students from at least a dozen law schools had already started organizing rallies, including Duke, NYU, and USC. Students outside of law schools were also planning on protesting, according to the site.

"In addition to native peoples, a broad intersection of communities will be harmed by Kavanaugh taking a seat on the highest court, including survivors of sexual assault, people who need reproductive health care, and immigrant communities," the letter continued.

The law students' protests follow a wider backlash from other leading legal voices to Kavanaugh's confirmation. According to WCMH-TV in Columbus, Ohio, there's already been a walkout staged by law students from Ohio State University this week. In addition, nearly 2,500 law professors voiced their dissent ahead of the confirmation vote and signed a letter calling for the Senate to vote against Kavanaugh. Many in the legal community — while not taking a side on the sexual misconduct allegations, which Kavanaugh unequivocally denied — took issue with his temperament during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings.

Kavanaugh's alma mater has also been a site of student demonstrations, with Yale Law students conducting sit-ins and protests, the Yale Daily News reported. Ahead of the confirmation vote, the students formed an activist group called Yale Law Students Demanding Better to demand that the Yale administration and elected officials oppose Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

For many student protesters, the goal is impeachment on the grounds of "alleged perjury," according to the Chronicle, and they hope the strike will resonate loudly with political candidates aiming to win a seat next month.