US SC nominee Kavanaugh not to teach at Harvard next year

Brett Kavanaugh, the highly controversial U.S. Supreme Court nominee picked by President Donald Trump, has notified Harvard Law School that he will not teach his course as scheduled next semester, the Harvard Crimson reported Tuesday.

Catherine Claypoole, associate dean and dean for academic and faculty affairs at the law school, told students the news in an email sent on Monday night.

"Today, Judge Kavanaugh indicated that he can no longer commit to teaching his course in January Term 2019, so the course will not be offered," Claypoole wrote on behalf of the law school's Curriculum Committee.

Hundreds of Harvard Law alumni signed a letter urging the university to remove Kavanaugh as a lecturer at the school, though the letter had not been submitted to administrators by the time of Claypoole's email, local media reported.

Kavanaugh, who has been teaching the course titled "The Supreme Court Since 2005" at Harvard Law School since 2009, is under heavy fire over allegations of sexual assaults committed more than 30 years ago.

Trump on Friday ordered a one-week probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) into the allegations against the judge.

Currently, three identified women have come forward to accuse Kavanaugh of sexual assaults or mistreatment of women during his high school and college years.