Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination
On July 9, 2018, President Donald Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to succeed retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. When nominated, Kavanaugh was a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, a position he was appointed to in 2006 by President George W. Bush.
Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination
July 9, 2018
October 6, 2018
Approved by the U.S. Senate
11
10
Reported favorably
51
49
Cloture invoked
50
48
2
Confirmed
The Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Kavanaugh and heard witness testimonies concerning his nomination to the Supreme Court over the course of a four-day hearing, September 4–7, 2018.[1] Several days later, it was revealed that psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford had written a letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein in July accusing Kavanaugh of sexual assault while they were both in high school in 1982. The Committee postponed its vote and invited both Kavanaugh and Blasey Ford to appear at a public Senate hearing. In the interim, two other women, Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick, accused Kavanaugh of separate past instances of sexual assault.[2]
Both Kavanaugh and Blasey Ford testified before the Committee on September 27; the following day the nomination was forwarded to the full Senate on an 11–10 vote.[2] Then, on October 6, 2018, following a supplemental FBI investigation into the allegations, the Senate voted 50–48 to confirm Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court.[3]
Nomination[edit]
Potential candidates[edit]
Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, a pivotal "swing" vote on the Supreme Court announced on June 27, 2018, that he would retire at the end of July, after having served on the Court for over 30 years. His departure gave President Donald Trump his second opportunity to appoint a justice to the Supreme Court (following the nomination of Neil Gorsuch a year earlier).[4]
During the 2016 presidential campaign, then-candidate Trump released two lists of potential Supreme Court nominees, along with a supplemental list in November 2017. While responding to reporters' questions following Kennedy's announcement, President Trump said that the vacancy would be filled by "somebody from that list." Those considered front-runners for the nomination by press reports, in addition to Kavanaugh, were: Amy Coney Barrett, Raymond Gruender, Thomas Hardiman, Raymond Kethledge, William H. Pryor Jr. and Amul Thapar.[5][6][7] It was reported by Politico that Kennedy had expressed partiality towards Kavanaugh in his conversations with Trump and was more inclined to retire after Kavanaugh's addition to Trump's list.[6][7]
Announcement[edit]
President Trump announced that he would nominate Kavanaugh, then a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, to succeed Justice Anthony Kennedy on July 9, 2018.[8] Trump's stated reasons for choosing Kavanaugh included his "impeccable credentials, unsurpassed qualifications, and a proven commitment to equal justice under the law", and he went on to emphasize that "what matters is not a judge's political views, but whether they can set aside those views to do what the law and the Constitution require."[9]
From 1993 to 1994, Kavanaugh had served as a law clerk for Justice Kennedy.[10] His name was not on either of the Trump campaign's pre-election "potential nominees" lists, but was one of those added in November 2017; a decision designed perhaps to make Kennedy more comfortable with retiring.[5]
Voting alignment[edit]
In reference to Kavanaugh's voting alignment if confirmed, FiveThirtyEight used Lee Epstein et al.'s Judicial Common Space scores[11] (which are not based on a judge's behavior, but rather the ideology scores of either home state senators or the appointing president) to find that Kavanaugh would likely be more conservative than justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, but less conservative than Justice Clarence Thomas, if placed on the Supreme Court.[12] Also, a Washington Post statistical analysis estimated that the ideologies of most of Trump's announced candidates were "statistically indistinguishable" and placed Kavanaugh between Justices Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito.[13]
Responses to the nomination[edit]
American Bar Association rating[edit]
The American Bar Association (ABA) gave Kavanaugh a unanimous "well qualified" rating for his nomination.[14] However, on October 5, after Kavanaugh was accused of sexual impropriety, the chairman of the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary announced that the committee had reopened its evaluation "regarding temperament" and that reassessment and re-vote would not be completed before the Senate vote.[15][16] Following Kavanaugh's confirmation, the standing committee discontinued the re-evaluation because there is "no process for the evaluation of sitting judges or justices."[15][17]
Support[edit]
Senate Republicans leaders expressed support for Kavanaugh's nomination. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stated his intent to support the nomination, referring to Kavanaugh as "highly regarded throughout the legal community". Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley also had high praise for Kavanaugh, calling him "one of the most qualified Supreme Court nominees to come before the Senate."[18]
Stanford Law School professor Nathaniel Persily, a scholar of constitutional law, election law, and the democratic process,[19] responded to the nomination writing that Kavanaugh "is eminently qualified and a very talented jurist." However, he went on to observe, "that is all quite beside the point in today’s political environment. The norms of Supreme Court confirmations have been degrading for some time."[20]
Yale Law School professor Akhil Reed Amar, an expert on constitutional law and originalism,[21] whose notable students include Kavanaugh, Chris Coons, and Cory Booker, called the nomination of Kavanaugh Trump's "finest hour, his classiest move". Amar also remarked that Kavanaugh "commands wide and deep respect among scholars, lawyers, and jurists".[22]
Robert S. Bennett, an attorney who represented President Bill Clinton during the Lewinsky scandal (opposite Kavanaugh, who worked for independent counsel Kenneth Starr), stated that he supported Kavanaugh's confirmation.[23]
In their blog, The Libre Initiative, a group funded by Freedom Partners, a nonprofit group backed by the Koch brothers and other conservative donors,[24] encouraged Latinos to support Kavanaugh.[25] The Latino Coalition (TLC), established in 1995 by Hispanic business owners and whose chairman is Hector Barreto,[26] Administrator of the United States Small Business Administration from 2001 to 2006,[26] also supported Kavanaugh.[27]
Ethics complaints filed against Kavanaugh[edit]
Multiple ethics complaints were filed against Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearings, 83 in all. The first two were filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Court during the hearings by the Super PAC Democratic Coalition. The first on September 10, accused Kavanaugh of lying when he told the Senate Judiciary Committee he was unaware that he received information stolen from Senate Democrats when he was working in the Bush White House in the early 2000s; the second on September 27, alleging that Kavanaugh violated the judiciary's code of conduct by 'engaging in a public and partisan campaign of lies to cover-up and conceal sexual misconduct and crimes he committed in the past.'
On October 10, Chief Justice John Roberts appointed judges from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to address the complaints.[209] In December 2018, the judicial panel dismissed all 83 ethics complaints, concluding that while the complaints "are serious," there is no existing authority that allows lower court judges to investigate or discipline Supreme Court justices.[210]