# Brett Kavanaugh *Associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States* Brett Michael Kavanaugh (born February 12, 1965) is an associate justice of the [[Supreme Court of the United States]]. President Donald Trump nominated him on July 9, 2018, to fill the seat vacated by Justice [[Anthony Kennedy]], and he has held it since October 6, 2018. From 2006 to 2018 he was a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.[^1] Before becoming a judge, Kavanaugh clerked for federal judges and worked with Ken Starr on the Office of Independent Counsel's investigations of President Bill Clinton. He then served in the George W. Bush White House as staff secretary.[^4] Before his Supreme Court confirmation proceedings began, Christine Blasey Ford accused him of sexually assaulting her in the early 1980s, and three other women made accusations of sexual misconduct. No eyewitness testimony corroborated the accusations, and Kavanaugh denied them. The [[United States Senate]] confirmed him by 50 votes to 48.[^2] He has been regarded as a swing vote on the Court since [[Ruth Bader Ginsburg]] died in 2020. In June 2022 he was the target of an assassination plot. According to the source, the suspect hoped to disrupt the Court's rulings in *Dobbs* and *Bruen*.[^3] ## Early life and education Kavanaugh was born in Washington, D.C., on February 12, 1965. His parents were Martha Gamble (née Murphy) and Everett Edward Kavanaugh Jr. His father was a lawyer who led the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association for two decades. His mother taught history, earned a law degree from American University in 1978, and was a Maryland Circuit Court judge in Montgomery County from 1995 to 2001.[^5] He grew up in Bethesda, Maryland, and attended Georgetown Preparatory School, a Jesuit boys' school. There he was two years ahead of [[Neil Gorsuch]], with whom he later clerked and served on the Supreme Court. After finishing at Georgetown Prep in 1983, he enrolled at Yale University.[^6] ## Legal career (1990–2006) Kavanaugh clerked for Judge Walter King Stapleton of the Third Circuit in 1990–1991 and for Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit in 1991–1992. He interviewed for a clerkship with Chief Justice [[William Rehnquist]] for the 1992 term but was not offered one.[^7] He spent 1992–1993 on a one-year fellowship with Solicitor General Ken Starr. In 1993–1994 he clerked for Justice Kennedy, alongside Gorsuch.[^8] After the Kennedy clerkship, Kavanaugh returned to work for Starr. He was an associate counsel in the Office of the Independent Counsel until 1997. In that post he reopened the investigation into the 1993 gunshot death of Vincent Foster, which concluded after three years that Foster had committed suicide. In a September 2018 *[[New York Times]]* op-ed, Princeton historian Sean Wilentz criticized the federal money and resources spent on that inquiry.[^9] Kavanaugh was in private practice in 1997–98. His work with Starr on the Clinton investigations included drafting the *Starr Report*, which recommended Clinton's impeachment.[^4] In the Bush administration he served as White House staff secretary. He had a central role in the administration's work to select judicial nominees and win their confirmation.[^4] ## United States circuit judge (2006–2018) Bush nominated Kavanaugh to the District of Columbia Circuit on July 25, 2003. The nomination then stalled in the Senate for nearly three years. Democratic senators said he was too partisan, and Senator Dick Durbin called him the "Forrest Gump of Republican politics". The American Bar Association rated him "well qualified" in 2003. In 2006, after further interviews, it lowered the rating to "qualified".[^10] On May 11, 2006, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 10–8, along party lines, to recommend his confirmation. The full Senate confirmed him 57–36 on May 26. He took the oath on June 1, began hearing cases on September 11, and was formally invested on September 27.[^11] In July 2007, Senators Patrick Leahy and Dick Durbin accused Kavanaugh of lying to the Judiciary Committee. Kavanaugh had denied any part in shaping the Bush administration's detention and interrogation policies. In 2002, he had told other White House lawyers that he believed Justice Kennedy would not approve of denying legal counsel to detainees held as enemy combatants. The question arose again in July 2018 after his Supreme Court nomination.[^12] The Supreme Court reviewed 14 opinions that Kavanaugh wrote as a circuit judge. It adopted his position in 13 of them and reversed it once.[^13] ## Nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States On July 2, 2018, Trump interviewed four federal appeals judges for 45 minutes each as possible successors to Kennedy, and Kavanaugh was one of them. Trump nominated him on July 9. In his first public remarks as nominee, Kavanaugh said, "No president has ever consulted more widely or talked with more people from more backgrounds to seek input about a Supreme Court nomination."[^14] A statistical analysis by *The [[Washington Post]]* placed Kavanaugh to the right of Gorsuch and to the left of [[Samuel Alito]].[^15] After the misconduct accusations, the Judiciary Committee held a supplemental hearing and voted 11–10 along party lines to send the nomination to the floor. The full Senate confirmed him on October 6, 2018, by 50–48.[^2] ## United States Supreme Court (2018–present) Kavanaugh heard his first arguments as a justice on October 9, 2018, in *Stokeling v. United States* and *United States v. Stitt*. His first opinion for the Court came on January 8, 2019, in *Henry Schein, Inc. v. Archer & White Sales, Inc.*, a unanimous decision that reversed an appeals court ruling on arbitration. On February 27, 2019, he joined Roberts and the Court's liberal justices in *Garza v. Idaho*. That case applied the Sixth Amendment's presumption of prejudice to a lawyer's failure to file an appeal where the plea agreement contained an appeal waiver.[^16] In December 2018 he joined Roberts and the four more liberal justices in declining to hear cases from Louisiana and Kansas. Those cases sought to block patients from using Medicaid-funded care at Planned Parenthood clinics.[^18] In November 2020 he became circuit justice for both the Sixth and Eighth Circuits. He had previously been assigned to the Seventh Circuit.[^17] ## Teaching and scholarship Kavanaugh taught at Georgetown University Law Center in 2007, at Yale Law School in 2011, and at Harvard Law School from 2008 to 2018. [[Elena Kagan]], then Harvard's dean, hired him as a visiting professor in 2008. His students rated him highly; one of them was [[JD Vance]]. After the misconduct accusations, about 50 Harvard students filed formal complaints arguing that his lecturing would violate the university's sexual harassment policies. He withdrew from teaching at Harvard for the 2019 winter semester. In summer 2019 he became a visiting professor at George Mason University's [[Antonin Scalia]] Law School.[^19] In a 2009 *Minnesota Law Review* article, Kavanaugh argued that Congress should exempt sitting presidents from civil suits. He wrote that such suits could be "time-consuming and distracting" and would "ill serve the public interest, especially in times of financial or national security crisis".[^20] The article, *Separation of Powers During the Forty-Fourth Presidency and Beyond*, appeared in volume 93 at pages 1454–1484. A video of the underlying lecture is held by the *[[Star Tribune]]*.[^21] Writing in *Time*, Brian Bennett described the same article as defending a president's immunity from prosecution while in office.[^15] ## Personal life In 2004 Kavanaugh married Ashley Estes, who had been George W. Bush's personal secretary. The couple have two daughters. He is a Roman Catholic. At his May 2006 District of Columbia Circuit confirmation hearing, he said he was a registered Republican. In 2018 his reported salary was $220,600 as a federal judge and $27,000 as a Harvard Law School lecturer.[^22] In 2022, after the leak of a draft majority opinion in *Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization*, protests took place at his home.[^23] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Brett Kavanaugh*, lead section (revision 1374506251, retrieved 2026-10-26) — birth date, offices, July 9, 2018 nomination, service since October 6, 2018, and D.C. Circuit service 2006–2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh [^2]: Wikipedia contributors, *Brett Kavanaugh*, lead section (retrieved 2026-10-26) — accusations, supplemental hearing, 11–10 committee vote and 50–48 confirmation vote on October 6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh [^3]: Wikipedia contributors, *Brett Kavanaugh*, lead section (retrieved 2026-10-26) — swing-vote description since 2020 and June 2022 assassination plot. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh [^4]: Wikipedia contributors, *Brett Kavanaugh*, lead section (retrieved 2026-10-26) — work with Starr on the Clinton investigations, drafting of the *Starr Report*, and role as White House staff secretary. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh [^5]: Wikipedia contributors, *Brett Kavanaugh*, *Early life and education* (retrieved 2026-10-26) — birth, parentage, and parents' careers including the mother's 1995–2001 judgeship. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh [^6]: Wikipedia contributors, *Brett Kavanaugh*, *Early life and education* (retrieved 2026-10-26) — Bethesda upbringing, Georgetown Prep, Gorsuch, and Yale enrollment after 1983. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh [^7]: Wikipedia contributors, *Brett Kavanaugh*, *Legal career (1990–2006)* (retrieved 2026-10-26) — Stapleton and Kozinski clerkships and the 1992-term Rehnquist interview. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh [^8]: Wikipedia contributors, *Brett Kavanaugh*, *Legal career (1990–2006)* (retrieved 2026-10-26) — 1992–1993 Solicitor General fellowship and 1993–1994 Kennedy clerkship. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh [^9]: Wikipedia contributors, *Brett Kavanaugh*, *Legal career (1990–2006)* (retrieved 2026-10-26) — Office of the Independent Counsel service to 1997, the Foster investigation, and Wilentz's September 2018 op-ed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh [^10]: Wikipedia contributors, *Brett Kavanaugh*, *United States circuit judge (2006–2018)* (retrieved 2026-10-26) — July 25, 2003 nomination, nearly three-year stall, Durbin remark and ABA ratings. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh [^11]: Wikipedia contributors, *Brett Kavanaugh*, *United States circuit judge (2006–2018)* (retrieved 2026-10-26) — May 11, 2006 committee vote, May 26 Senate vote, June 1 oath and September dates. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh [^12]: Wikipedia contributors, *Brett Kavanaugh*, *United States circuit judge (2006–2018)* (retrieved 2026-10-26) — July 2007 Leahy–Durbin accusation, 2002 statements and July 2018 reemergence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh [^13]: Wikipedia contributors, *Brett Kavanaugh*, *United States circuit judge (2006–2018)*, *Notable cases* (retrieved 2026-10-26) — 14 opinions reviewed, 13 adopted and one reversed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh [^14]: Wikipedia contributors, *Brett Kavanaugh*, *Nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States* (retrieved 2026-10-26) — July 2, 2018 interview, July 9 nomination and first public remarks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh [^15]: Wikipedia contributors, *Brett Kavanaugh*, *Nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States*, *Legal philosophy and approach* (retrieved 2026-10-26) — *Washington Post* analysis and Bennett's *Time* description of the 2009 article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh [^16]: Wikipedia contributors, *Brett Kavanaugh*, *United States Supreme Court (2018–present)* (retrieved 2026-10-26) — October 9, 2018 first arguments, *Henry Schein* opinion and *Garza v. Idaho*. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh [^17]: Wikipedia contributors, *Brett Kavanaugh*, *United States Supreme Court (2018–present)*, *Circuit assignment* (retrieved 2026-10-26) — November 2020 reassignment to the Sixth and Eighth Circuits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh [^18]: Wikipedia contributors, *Brett Kavanaugh*, *United States Supreme Court (2018–present)*, *Abortion* (retrieved 2026-10-26) — December 2018 denial of the Louisiana and Kansas cases. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh [^19]: Wikipedia contributors, *Brett Kavanaugh*, *Teaching and scholarship* (retrieved 2026-10-26) — teaching posts, Kagan hire, Vance, student complaints, 2019 withdrawal and George Mason post. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh [^20]: Wikipedia contributors, *Brett Kavanaugh*, *Teaching and scholarship* (retrieved 2026-10-26) — 2009 *Minnesota Law Review* argument on civil suits against presidents. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh [^21]: Wikipedia contributors, *Brett Kavanaugh*, *Selected publications* (retrieved 2026-10-26) — citation of the 2009 article, 93 Minn. L. Rev. 1454–1484, and *Star Tribune* video. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh [^22]: Wikipedia contributors, *Brett Kavanaugh*, *Personal life* (retrieved 2026-10-26) — marriage, religion, party registration statement and 2018 salary figures. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh [^23]: Wikipedia contributors, *Brett Kavanaugh*, *Personal life* (retrieved 2026-10-26) — 2022 protests at his home after the *Dobbs* draft leak. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh