Supreme Court Nominations

Focus returns to Kavanaugh’s work for Starr, as judge orders release of report on media leaks

Brett Kavanaugh’s work for independent counsel Ken Starr is in the news this week as the U.S. Supreme Court nominee paid courtesy visits to senators who will consider his confirmation. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ordered the National Archives to release a 1999 report by a court-appointed special…

Aug 24, 2018 6:33 AM CDT

Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings to start Sept. 4

Confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh will begin on Sept. 4.

Aug 10, 2018 3:49 PM CDT

Kavanaugh memo urged independent counsel Starr not to pursue Clinton indictment while in office

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh once told independent counsel Ken Starr in a memo that he shouldn’t pursue an indictment of President Bill Clinton while he was in office. The December 1998 memo was released Friday, the New York Times reports. Kavanaugh had helped write Starr’s report arguing that Clinton…

Aug 10, 2018 2:51 PM CDT

Kavanaugh email shows offer to prepare ex-AG Ashcroft on attorney-client monitoring issue

A 2001 email released Thursday is likely to raise new questions about U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s involvement in terrorism policies when he was an assistant White House counsel in the George W. Bush administration.

Aug 10, 2018 11:08 AM CDT

Did Kavanaugh’s ‘one race’ assertion signal a vote against racial preferences?

Supporters of affirmative action are concerned about a 2012 opinion of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh that delayed but ultimately allowed a voter ID law in South Carolina opposed by the Obama administration’s Justice Department.

Aug 10, 2018 6:05 AM CDT

Kavanaugh seems to shun gun registration laws, but may not oppose license training requirements

If appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Brett Kavanaugh could be less hospitable to gun regulation—and more likely to vote in favor of cert grants on gun cases—than the man he would replace, Justice Anthony Kennedy. In District of Columbia v. Heller, the landmark 2008 U.S. Supreme Court case…

Jul 30, 2018 11:12 AM CDT

Kavanaugh once questioned the Nixon tapes decision; was he espousing a ‘unitary executive’ theory?

A transcript given to the Senate Judiciary Committee over the weekend reveals that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh once questioned the unanimous 1974 U.S. Supreme Court decision that forced President Richard Nixon to turn over his secret White House tapes. Kavanaugh’s remarks were made nearly 20 years ago during a…

Jul 24, 2018 9:43 AM CDT

Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh got mostly glowing evaluations from his law students

Law students who evaluated Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s classes gave mostly glowing evaluations to the future U.S. Supreme Court nominee.

One student at Georgetown was so impressed that the 2007 evaluation read: “I honestly believe I took a class that was instructed by a future Supreme Court justice." Others rated Kavanaugh as their best professor ever. Students said he was accessible outside of class, evenhanded, fair-minded, well-versed in the materials and smart. One noted his “great hair!”

Jul 23, 2018 7:05 AM CDT

Indicted Russian company cites Kavanaugh opinion on campaign finance in bid to get charge tossed

An indicted Russian company accused of taking part in an “information warfare” campaign to influence the 2016 presidential election is citing an opinion by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in a bid to get the charge dismissed. Concord Management and Consulting, indicted in February by special counsel Robert Mueller, says…

Jul 20, 2018 4:05 PM CDT

Democrats want to know whether Kavanaugh had any role in torture and detainee policies under GW Bush

Democrats are seeking files from the George W. Bush administration to learn whether Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh had any role in formulating policies on the treatment of detainees. The Washington Post spoke with Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., who is pursuing the issue. Durbin has said he was misled when…

Jul 19, 2018 12:40 PM CDT

Kavanaugh praised Rehnquist’s stand against unenumerated rights in Roe v. Wade dissent

The late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist was Brett Kavanaugh’s “first judicial hero,” the Supreme Court nominee said in a Constitution Day speech last September. Kavanaugh praised Rehnquist for taking a stand against unenumerated rights in the Constitution in his Roe v. Wade dissent, for his law-and-order limits on the…

Jul 12, 2018 12:33 PM CDT

Love of baseball contributed to significant credit card debt for Supreme Court nominee

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh made about $220,000 a year as a federal appeals judge, but he still managed to rack up tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt. In 2016, Kavanaugh had three credit cards, each with $15,000 to $50,000 in debt, and a loan between $15,000…

Jul 12, 2018 10:03 AM CDT

Jul 3, 2018 9:12 AM CDT