Former President Jimmy Carter didn’t mince words while discussing Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during a visit to Emory University on Thursday.
The 39th president called Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the highest court in the land “a very serious mistake” while speaking to a civil rights class, The Emory Wheel first reported.
Carter said he believed Kavanaugh lost “his cool” while testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September. The then-federal appeals court judge drew intense criticism over his aggressive ― and at times, weepy ― denial of Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation that he sexually assaulted her when they were both high school students.
“Whether or not [Kavanaugh] attempted to rape a woman ... I thought he was temperamentally unfit to serve on the Supreme Court because of his outburst during the hearing,” Carter can be heard telling the students in a video posted to Facebook.
“I think most of the American people were not in favor of his being on the Supreme Court,” he added. “Judging by his previous legal career, he was very qualified. But ... I think he did attack her sexually and I know that I saw him lose his cool.”
President Donald Trump’s most recent Supreme Court nomination isn’t the only decision Carter has spoken out against. The longtime Democrat told students at another Emory event last month that he would like to change “all” of Trump’s policies.
“If I were foolish enough to feel I could be president again, I think the first thing I would do would be to change all of the policies that President Trump has initiated,” he said.