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How Brett Kavanaugh, the 'Forrest Gump of Republican politics', rose to become the Supreme Court's most pivotal nomination in decades
How Brett Kavanaugh, the 'Forrest Gump of Republican politics', rose to become the Supreme Court's most pivotal nomination in decades
Ellen CranleyJul 11, 2018, 00:38 IST
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
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President Donald Trump has nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh to replace the retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy on the US Supreme Court.
Kavanaugh was born and bred in the Washington, DC area and has a long history in conservative circles.
His journey to the US Supreme Court has been so star-studded, one senator once called him the "Forrest Gump" of Republican politics.
President Donald Trump has nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh, 53, to replace the retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy on the US Supreme Court.
"There is no one in America more qualified for this position, and no one more deserving," Trump said at the announcement Monday night, fewer than two weeks after Kennedy said he would end his 30-year career on the bench.
Republicans have praised Kavanaugh, but the Ivy League-educated veteran of George W. Bush's administration has a tough confirmation process ahead of him. Republicans' 51-49 hold on the Senate puts Kavanaugh in a precarious spot.
Top Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin once called Kavanaugh the "Forrest Gump of Republican politics", and has spoken out since his nomination with concerns about how he could affect proceedings in the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Trump's actions as obstruction of justice. And other liberals are worried about what Kavanaugh could do to abortion rights.
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As Kavanaugh heads to Capitol Hill to begin the confirmation proceedings, here's a look at how the Washington, DC born-and-bred conservative rose to the court's most pivotal nomination in decades:
He attended Georgetown Preparatory School, an all-boys school in Rockville, Maryland. He was staff for the school newspaper, played on the school's varsity football team, and was captain of the basketball team.
After Yale University, Kavanaugh attended Yale Law School, which also produced current Supreme Court justices Clarence Thomas, Sonia Sotomayor, and Samuel Alito.
Before he was a partner at DC law firm Kirkland & Ellis, Kavanaugh was associate counsel on the team led by Kenneth Starr, the special prosecutor who investigated former President Bill Clinton's extramarital affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
As part of Starr's team, Kavanaugh helped draft the report recommending Clinton's impeachment, in which he wrote independent counsel investigations can take "too long," easily become "politicized," and can go beyond their original scope. He also expressed doubt that a president can even be indicted while in office.
Reports after the announcement of his nomination pointed out these opinions could prove significant as the special counsel Robert Mueller, who is heading the Russia investigation, considers actions Trump has taken that could possibly be considered obstruction of justice.
From 2001 to 2006, Kavanaugh worked under former President George W. Bush as assistant, staff secretary, and senior associate counsel to the president.
Bush nominated him to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, where he has served since 2006. The Senate confirmed him with a vote of 57 to 36. The chief justice John Roberts, and justices Clarence Thomas and Ruth Bader Ginsburg also served on the same court before joining the high court.
At a 2004 confirmation hearing, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois called Kavanaugh "the Zelig or Forrest Gump of Republican politics" because he's been present at so many dramatic events throughout his career.
Kavanaugh helped Bush's team in the high-stakes Supreme Court decision to block the recount of votes in the 2000 presidential election between Bush and Al Gore.
Kavanaugh also represented then-Florida Governor Jeb Bush in his push for a school voucher program that attempted to get public money to private religious schools, which the Supreme Court eventually ruled was unconstitutional while Kavanuagh was on George Bush's staff.
Kavanaugh was White House staff during and in the several years of aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, and has since issued rulings supporting wide-ranging governmental authority to surveillance.
After Trump made his announcement, Durbin also spoke out against Kavanuagh's nomination, calling him a "far-right jurist" who "could change the rules in America" because of his expressed opinions in Clinton's case.
Other Democratic senators echoed Durbin's statement. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said: "I will oppose Judge Kavanaugh's nomination with everything I have, and I hope a bipartisan majority will do the same. The stakes are simply too high for anything less."
Kavanaugh made headlines last year when he backed the Trump administration's arguments in his dissent to a ruling that allowed an undocumented minor to receive an abortion.
During his time on the DC Circuit Court, Kavanaugh taught at Georgetown Law Center, Yale Law School, and Harvard Law School, where he was hired by Justice Elena Kagan, who was then dean of Harvard Law.
Kavanaugh and his wife Ashley met when they were both aides for Bush, and their first date was the night before the 9/11 attacks. She was present at his swearing-in to the DC Circuit, alongside by former Justice Kennedy.
Kavanaugh tutors and coaches children, volunteers for Catholic charity groups, and attends church in the Washington, DC area, where he lives with his family.
