Mark Gauvreau Judge (born September 24, 1964) is an American author and journalist known for books about his suburban Washington, D.C. youth, recovery from alcoholism, and the role of music in American popular culture.
Judge briefly drew national attention during the 2018 Supreme Court nomination hearings of Brett Kavanaugh, when professor Christine Blasey Ford alleged that Judge was present and laughing as Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were high school students over 30 years previously.[1] Judge said that he had no memory of the incident.[2][3] He wrote a book about his experiences titled The Devil's Triangle: Mark Judge vs the New American Stasi. It was published in 2022.[4]
Judge's book Damn Senators, about his Major League Baseball player grandfather Joe Judge, was published in 2003 to favorable reviews.[34][9]The Weekly Standard wrote of the author's description of 1924: "Mark Gauvreau Judge, has beautifully captured the excitement and intensity of that season."[13] On Weekend Edition, journalist Michael Kranish highlighted Judge's book Damn Senators among his favorite summer reading picks in 2004.[35]The Wall Street Journal wrote that Judge "so nicely captured" the "glory of Washington baseball" in Damn Senators.[36]
In God and Man at Georgetown Prep (2005,) Judge wrote that the faculty at Georgetown Prep contained a multitude of homosexual priests,[37] and heavy drinking and wild parties were rampant among the students.[1] Biographer Jerry Oppenheimer wrote in his 2015 book RFK Jr.: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream, that Judge's book "caused quite a storm, especially among the alumni and administration going back decades, because Judge, a conservative Catholic, had alleged that 'alcoholism was rampant' among the 'left-wing Jesuits' and claimed that the school had been a hotbed of 'rampant homosexuality.' Half of the faculty, he asserted, 'was gay.'"[38]Publishers Weekly called the book "a humorous, edgy look at his experiences in three prestigious U.S. Catholic schools."[39]National Catholic Register found Judge's writing to be too vague, commenting, "There are too many theories and too little space."[40]
The Wichita Eagle recommended a piece by Judge for Christianity Today in 2006, commenting it evidenced the ability of religious believers to appreciate the good that musical culture can bring to society.[41][42] Judge's book, A Tremor of Bliss: Sex, Catholicism, and Rock 'n' Roll, was published in 2010.[43][44]First Things wrote, "An insightful history of the rise of contraception in the last century provides the most valuable material in A Tremor of Bliss."[45] The publication recommended Judge's work, concluding, "A Tremor of Bliss is a book well worth reading from an author unafraid of showing some 'attitude.'"[45]Jeremy Lott of The Washington Times reviewed the book, concluding, "Judge proposes a Catholic sexual counterrevolution, though he doesn't want to call it that. What he clearly does want is U.S. Catholic education to play a vital role in countering the current almost-anything-goes culture."[43] In addition to writing books, Judge has contributed to The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Weekly Standard, and First Things.[46]
Regarding LGBT people, Judge wrote in The Daily Caller, "We simply are not allowed to talk about certain things at the risk of our jobs and reputations. One is human anatomy, another is the problem of promiscuity in the gay community."[47] Judge wrote a piece titled "Hard Case Crime: the Beauty of Male Passion" on Splice Today lamenting that "today’s social justice warriors don’t like a sexy damsel in distress".[48][47] Judge elaborated that "Of course ... no means no and yes means yes. But there’s also that ambiguous middle ground, where the woman seems interested and indicates, whether verbally or not, that the man needs to prove himself to her. And if that man is any kind of man, he’ll allow himself to feel the awesome power, the wonderful beauty, of uncontrollable male passion."[48]
In 2018, Judge was implicated in an alleged sexual assault that surfaced after his high school classmate Brett Kavanaugh was nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States.[16][1] On September 27, Christine Blasey Ford testified under oath before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary that when all three were in high school at a party in 1982, Judge and Kavanaugh pushed her into a bedroom where Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed, groped her, and attempted to remove her clothes against her will while Judge watched and laughed. Judge told The New Yorker that he had "no recollection" of the alleged incident.[20] In a follow-up interview with The Weekly Standard, Judge called the allegations "just absolutely nuts. I never saw Brett act that way."[49] Asked if there was "rough-housing" with female peers that the Weekly Standard interviewer suggested "might have been interpreted differently by parties involved", Judge said he only recollected it taking place among the male students of the all-boys school: "I don't remember any of that stuff going on with girls."[50] He subsequently sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee saying, "I have no memory of this alleged incident."[51][2][3] Judge also stated he did not wish to speak further about the incident.[52][53][54] Following the announcement of the allegations, Judge temporarily moved to a beach house in Bethany Beach, Delaware under recommendation of his lawyer.[55] He was found a week later by a Washington Post reporter outside the home, along with his car, which was filled with his belongings.[55][56]
Multiple U.S. senators acquired copies of Judge's books about his time with Kavanaugh at Georgetown Preparatory School, to prepare for questioning Kavanaugh and Ford before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary.[57] In a subsequent New Yorker article, Elizabeth Rasor, who was once in a relationship with Judge for three years, stated that "Mark told me a very different story."[50] She said he told her of taking turns having sex with drunk women at Georgetown Prep.[50] Another woman also disputed Judge's account of the social scene at the time, sending a letter to Ford's lawyers saying that she had witnessed boys at parties, that included Georgetown Prep students, engaging in sexual misconduct.[50]
On September 28, 2018, Senator Richard Blumenthal made a motion before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary to subpoena Judge to testify about Kavanaugh.[58][59][60] Blumenthal said before calling his motion, "He has never been questioned by any member of our committee. He has never submitted a detailed account of what he knows and so I move ... that we subpoena Mark Judge."[61][62] Blumenthal noted, "The third person in the room was Mark Judge, who was never questioned by the FBI or interviewed by the committee."[60][62] Republicans defeated the motion for a subpoena on a party-line vote.[61][63][64] US Congressman Ted Lieu of the United States House Committee on the Judiciary and Congressman Elijah Cummings of the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform stated their intentions to subpoena Judge and call him for testimony before the US Congress, after the 2018 US midterm elections.[65][66] After Republican US Senator Jeff Flake called for an FBI investigation, Judge released a statement that he would cooperate with all law enforcement authorities regarding the allegations against Kavanaugh.[67][68][69] After a request from Flake, followed by a request from the US Senate Judiciary Committee, President Trump ordered an FBI investigation into the sexual assault allegations.[70]
Judge, Mark Gauvreau (October 1, 1995). "Dance of Democracy: The Cheek-to-Cheek Cure for the Alienation That Ails Us". The Washington Post. p. C1 – via ProQuest.[71]
Judge, Mark Gauvreau (2001). Ken Burns Ain't Got That Swing. Claremont Institute for the Study of Statemanship and Political Philosophy. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)[75]
^"God and Man at Georgetown Prep: How I Became a Catholic Despite 20 Years of Catholic Schooling by Mark Gauvreau Judge", Crisis Magazine: A Voice for the Faithful Catholic Laity, 24: 48–50, 2006
^ abJudge, Mark Gauvreau (Spring 2005), "My Favorite Teacher: Brashness + Tradition", Catholic University of America Magazine, Catholic University of America, archived from the original on March 16, 2016, retrieved September 21, 2018, Mark Gauvreau Judge, B.A. 1990, has written four books, most recently Damn Senators: My Grandfather and the Story of Washington's Only World Series Championship (Encounter Books, 2003) and God and Man at Georgetown Prep: How I Became a Catholic Despite 20 Years of Catholic Schooling (Crossroad, 2005). His writing has also appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Weekly Standard. Pictured are Judge and his father Joe Judge, B.A. 1950, LL.D. 1988, in a photo taken in the mid-1990s.
^ abGilbert, Bill (July 14, 2003), "When Washington's Senators won the world series (book review)", Human Events, vol. 59, no. 23, p. 26 – via ProQuest
^Judge, Mark Gauvreau (August 5, 2001), "My Pitch on Behalf Of a Local Legend", The Washington Post, p. B3 – via ProQuest
^ abClark, Bob (April 13, 2003), "Nine new books step to the plate: 'Damn Senators' by Mark Gauvreau Judge", The Boston Herald, p. 63 – via InfoTrac
^Bender, Bryan (October 1, 2004), "Washington greets prospect of baseball's return with cheers, boos", The Boston Globe – via InfoTrac
^ abBarnes, Fred (April 28, 2003), "The year the last were first (book review)", The Weekly Standard, vol. 8, no. 32, pp. 37–38 – via ProQuest
^ abcdBarr, Elizabeth (June 29, 1997), "A Pampered Boy's Life, As Seen Through a Buzz (book review)", The Buffalo News, p. G7 – via NewsBank
^"Alumni Report", Catholic University of America Magazine, Catholic University of America, Spring 2006, archived from the original on June 11, 2011, retrieved September 21, 2018, Mark Gauvreau Judge, B.A. 1990, of Potomac, Md., is the author of God and Man at Georgetown Prep: How I Became a Catholic Despite 20 Years of Catholic Schooling (Crossroad Publishing Co., 2005). In the book he shares his experiences at three Catholic schools.
^Judge, Mark G. (January 1989), "Censors at Work", The Progressive, vol. 53, no. 1, p. 40 – via ProQuest, Mark G. Judge is a free-lance writer in Washington, D.C.
^Judge, Mark G. (December 1990), "Books: Seeing Anew", The Progressive, vol. 54, no. 12, p. 40, Mark G. Judge has contributed to Sojourners, and In These Times as well as The Progressive.
^Judge, Mark Gauvreau (April 5, 1998), "All Grown Up And No Place To Go", The Washington Post, p. C1 – via ProQuest, Mark Judge, a writer who lives in Potomac, is author of 'Wasted: Tales of a Gen X Drunk'
^Judge, Mark Gauvreau (December 5, 1999), "From Kinda Hi-Fi To Modular Guy", The Washington Post, p. B2 – via ProQuest
^ abcSzatmary, Dave (2000), "Book Review: If It Ain't Got That Swing: The Rebirth of Grown-Up Culture", Library Journal, Reed Business Information
^Norman, Jean (February 10, 2001), "All grown up", The Australian Magazine, Weekend Australian, p. 41 – via NewsBank, In the United States, new bestsellers include – If It Ain't Got That Swing: The Rebirth of Grown-up Culture, by Mark Gauvreau Judge. It argues that the pre-babyboomer generations were happy to appear suave and adult, a culture superseded by the teenager sensibility of rock`n'roll.
^Goode, Stephen (November 10, 2003), "The Thoroughly American Game - Recent books bring to life some of baseball's legendary teams and iconic players, its enduring friendships and the silent, mysterious language that pervades the game.", The Washington Times, p. 36 – via NewsBank
^Hansen, Liane (September 5, 2004), "Interview: Michael Kranish talks about his summer reading picks", Weekend Edition, NPR – via NewsBank, My favorite part of 'Damn Senators' was learning who Joe Judge was, a person who I really hadn't heard of.
^Oppenheimer, Jerry (2015), RFK Jr.: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream, St. Martin's Press, p. 17, ISBN978-1250032959, In 2005, Mark Judge, a journalist who had graduated from Georgetown Prep in the 1980s, wrote a book about his time there, entitled God and Man at Georgetown Prep. It caused quite a storm, especially among the alumni and administration going back decades, because Judge, a conservative Catholic, had alleged that 'alcoholism was rampant' among the 'left-wing Jesuits' and claimed that the school had been a hotbed of 'rampant homosexuality.' Half of the faculty, he asserted, 'was gay.'
^ abSchaefer, Tom (November 25, 2006), "Share your spiritual stories of the season", The Wichita Eagle, p. 1F – via NewsBank, Lest you think people of faith should only rail against the evil in culture and not revel in the good, read what Mark Gauvreau Judge has to say in a recent essay titled 'The Gospel of Kurt Elling' on the Christianity Today Web site.
^O'Rourke, Anne (September 8, 2010), "Sex and Catholicism Discussion", The Washington Examiner – via NewsBank, Mark Judge, a journalist whose books include Damn Senators: My Grandfather and the Story of Washington's Only World Series Championship and God and Man at Georgetown Prep: How I Became a Catholic Despite 20 Years of Catholic Schooling. His writings have appeared in the Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, First Things, and the Weekly Standard.
^"Senate Committee rejects subpoenaing Mark Judge", The Washington Post, September 28, 2018, archived from the original on September 28, 2018, retrieved September 28, 2018, During a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting Sept. 28, Sen. Richard Blumenthal's (D-Conn.) motion to subpoena Mark Judge, the man named as a witness to Christine Blasey Fords alleged sexual assault, failed by a vote of 10-11.
^Campbell, Cole C. (October 8, 1995), "Suffolk Peanut Fest is one of the crossroads of our community life", The Virginian-Pilot, p. A2 – via NewsBank
^Pendleton, Randolph (April 24, 1998), "My modern (overnight) hospital stay", The Florida Times-Union, p. 2 – via NewsBank, For adults only: In a Washington Post article, Mark Gauvreau Judge advances the proposition that nobody wants to be an adult any more. In the past, he said, kids wanted to be adults. Now, adults want to be kids. He may have a point.
^"Forget attacks on IDAs; what really hurts our area is – multiplicity of governments", The Buffalo News, p. B2, April 29, 1997 – via NewsBank, Mark Gauvreau Judge wrote about the post-World War II era