Custom Search
5 Things to Know About Brett Kavanaugh
7-9-18
Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals — President Donald Trump's latest nominee to the Supreme Court — has deep roots in his hometown of Washington, D.C. .
Serving in the D.C. Circuit, Kavanaugh was born in the nation's capital and grew up in nearby Bethesda, Maryland. Here are five things to know about him:
- Kavanaugh attended Georgetown Prep high school and then went on to Yale University, where he obtained both undergraduate and law degrees. Among his law clerk jobs was a stint under the soon-to-be-retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy.
- Kavanaugh worked in the Office of Independent Counsel under Ken Starr, which investigated former President Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky and the death of Clinton White House staffer Vince Foster.
- Kavanaugh worked in the White House under former President George W. Bush as a counsel to the president and, later, as staff secretary. He was nominated to serve on the D.C. Circuit Court but his process was delayed three years because of partisan fighting. He was eventually confirmed in 2006.
- Kavanaugh has made several rulings related to the Environmental Protection Agency, including one in which he said the "EPA went well beyond" its boundaries set by Congress in terms of the Clean Air Act and the regulation of greenhouse gases. That decision was filed in 2012. He was part of another 2012 decision that struck down an EPA rule concerning emissions that crossed state lines.
- Kavanaugh is Roman Catholic but has not expressed a desire to see Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion, overturned. Democrats have already pushed back on Trump's Supreme Court pick — before Kavanaugh was even named — because they are concerned Roe v. Wade could be in jeopardy.