Kavanaugh, Brett (1965-…), became an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States in 2018. President Donald J. Trump nominated Kavanaugh to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court left by the retirement of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. Kavanaugh had served as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since 2006.
Brett Michael Kavanaugh was born in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 12, 1965. He grew up in nearby Bethesda, Maryland. His mother, Martha Kavanaugh, became a Montgomery County, Maryland, prosecutor and a judge. Brett attended Yale University in Connecticut, where he earned an undergraduate degree in 1987 and a law degree in 1990. Following graduation, he clerked for two appeals court judges. Later, in 1993 and 1994, he served as a clerk for Justice Kennedy. Between 1994 and 1997, and again in 1998, he was a member of the legal team of independent counsel Kenneth Starr, who headed the Whitewater investigation that led to the impeachment of then-President Bill Clinton. In 2000, Kavanaugh worked for the presidential campaign of George W. Bush during the contested recounting of Florida votes that resulted in Bush’s victory over then-Vice President Al Gore . See Bush v. Gore.
From 2001 to 2003, Kavanaugh served as associate counsel, and then, starting in 2003, senior assistant counsel in Bush’s White House. In 2003, President Bush nominated Kavanaugh to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The United States Senate, however, did not vote on the nomination for nearly three years, and Kavanaugh served in Bush’s administration as the president’s assistant and staff secretary. In 2006, the Senate finally confirmed Kavanaugh’s judicial nomination. Kavanaugh gained a reputation as a conservative primarily because of his stated preference of basing decisions on a strict reading of the U.S. Constitution’s original text. In July 2018, Trump nominated Kavanaugh to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court after Kennedy announced his retirement.
In September, the Senate held hearings to decide whether Kavanaugh would be confirmed to the Supreme Court. The night prior to the hearings, the Senate released thousands of documents related to the judge’s record, prompting protests from Democrats who accused Republicans of attempting to rush the confirmation process. The hearings later became more contentious after two women raised allegations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh, dating from their high school and college years. Kavanaugh denied the allegations. President Trump and Kavanaugh both publicly implied that the accusations were part of a Democratic conspiracy to destroy the nominee’s reputation. The hearings were suspended for about a week after several senators demanded further investigation into Kavanaugh’s alleged behavior. At Trump’s request, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) conducted a brief, confidential inquiry into the allegations. The investigation’s findings proved inconclusive, however. In early October, Kavanaugh was confirmed by a 50-48 vote—one of the closest confirmation votes in the court’s history.
