The American Bar Association late Thursday called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to delay a confirmation vote on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh until an FBI investigation can be completed into several claims of sexual misconduct.

We make this request because of the ABAs respect for the rule of law and due process under law, reads the letter, a copy of which was obtained by HuffPost. The basic principles that underscore the Senates constitutional duty of advice and consent on federal judicial nominees require nothing less than a careful examination of the accusations and facts by the FBI.

The move is extraordinary in that the ABA gave Kavanaugh a unanimous well-qualified rating for the Supreme Court nomination, and the federal judge has boasted that he was thoroughly vetted by the lawyers group.

The letter, signed by ABA President Robert Carlson, came just hours after Kavanaugh testified before the judiciary panel in light of recent allegations that he sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford at a gathering when they were both teenagers in the 1980s. Blasey, who also spoke on Thursday, claimed that a young Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed, attempted to take off her clothes and put his hand over her mouth to the point that she thought he was accidentally going to kill her.

Kavanaugh has vehemently denied the allegation, telling lawmakers on Thursday that the claim, alongside those of two other women, were a calculated and orchestrated political hit fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election.