Amy Chua denies telling female students to be ‘model-like’ when applying for clerkships with Brett Kavanaugh

Amy Chua, the Yale law professor and bestselling author who endorsed Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, has denied allegations that she instructed female law students to exude a “model-like” femininity when interviewing for clerkships with the judge.

“Everything that is being said about the advice I give to students applying to Brett Kavanaugh – or any judge – is outrageous, 100 per cent false, and the exact opposite of everything I have stood for and said for the last 15 years,” Chua said in a letter that was sent to the Yale Law School community.

The Guardian and the Huffington Post published articles last week that alleged that Chua, the author behind the bestselling book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, and her husband, Prof Jed Rubenfeld, told students that Kavanaugh liked his clerks to have a “certain look”. In one case, the advice was so off-putting to one Yale law student that she declined to pursue a clerkship with the judge, according to a source who spoke to The Guardian.

Chua has had an outsize influence in helping select clerks for Kavanaugh in her role at Yale Law School. In one case, a former student told The Guardian, a prospective clerk was introduced to Kavanaugh at a party that Chua hosted at her home – and was later told that the judge wanted her to apply for the post.

The controversy over Chua’s alleged remarks comes amid allegations Kavanaugh held down a woman and groped her when they were both in high school. Kavanaugh has denied the assault took place. A lawyer for his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, said that Ford was ready to testify about her experience, but wanted to negotiate the terms of her testimony.