Park City, Utah
This Friday, a new documentary 'Justice', helmed by filmmaker Doug Liman, looking into the sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh debuted at the Sundance Film Festival. The documentary raised questions about the depth of the FBI investigation into the high-profile case in 2018.
Kavanaugh was sworn in as the 114th justice of the US Supreme Court in October 2018 after a narrow 50-48 roll call following a wrenching debate over sexual misconduct. He strenuously denied the allegations of Christine Blasey Ford, who says he sexually assaulted her when they were teens. She appears mostly in the first several moments of 'Justice'.
The explosive doc was made under intense secrecy. It also highlighted the allegations made by Kavanaugh’s Yale classmate Deborah Ramirez. In a New Yorker article in 2018, Ramirez alleged that at a gathering with friends when she was a freshman in 1983, Kavanaugh pulled down his pants and thrust his penis at her. Kavanaugh has denied those claims.
'Justice' also had a taped recording of a tip given to the officials by another Yale classmate, Max Stier, that described a similar incident that the FBI never investigated. Stier, however, was not directly interviewed for the documentary and she declined the filmmaker's request to comment on its contents.
Also read: Jurors leave Sundance premiere over closed captioning glitch
Meanwhile, a friend of Ramirez from Yale, who was interviewed for the documentary, provided text messages in which a mutual friend admits to being contacted by "Kavanaugh’s people".
In a Q&A after the film, Liman was asked what he wants to happen when audiences see 'Justice'. In response, he said, "I kind of feel like the job ends with the film and what happens afterwards is beyond my control."
His producer Amy Hardy, who was standing beside Liman, said she disagreed. Hardy said she hopes it triggers outrage and leads to "a real investigation with subpoena powers".
(With inputs from agencies)
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