Brett Kavanaugh

Brett Kavanaugh
Born	Brett Michael Kavanaugh 12 2, 1965
Birthplace	Washington, D.C., U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Jurist
Known for	Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Education	Yale University (BA, JD)
Children	2

Brett Michael Kavanaugh (born February 12, 1965) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States since October 6, 2018. Born and raised in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, Kavanaugh built a career that moved from elite academic institutions through the corridors of political power before ascending to the federal judiciary. He studied history at Yale University, earned his law degree from Yale Law School, and went on to clerk for federal judges before joining the Office of Independent Counsel under Ken Starr, where he played a significant role in the investigation of President Bill Clinton. He later served in the George W. Bush administration as White House Staff Secretary and was nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2003, though his confirmation was delayed for three years amid partisan disputes. President Donald Trump nominated Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court on July 9, 2018, to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy. His confirmation process became one of the most contentious in modern American history after multiple allegations of sexual misconduct emerged, all of which Kavanaugh denied. The Senate confirmed him by a vote of 50–48 on October 6, 2018. In recent years, Kavanaugh has emerged as a pivotal vote on the Court, and his jurisprudence on matters of executive power has drawn renewed attention, particularly following his dissent in a 2026 case concerning presidential tariff authority.

Early Life

Brett Michael Kavanaugh was born on February 12, 1965, in Washington, D.C. He grew up in the Washington metropolitan area in a family with roots in the legal profession and public service. His mother, Martha Kavanaugh, served as a Maryland circuit court judge and was a significant influence on his interest in law. The Kavanaugh family is of Irish descent, a heritage that Brett Kavanaugh has acknowledged on various occasions.

Kavanaugh attended Georgetown Preparatory School, a private Jesuit boys' school in North Bethesda, Maryland, the same institution that later produced fellow Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, though the two did not overlap. At Georgetown Prep, Kavanaugh was a member of the varsity basketball team and was involved in various school activities. His high school years later became a subject of intense public scrutiny during his Supreme Court confirmation process in 2018, particularly his social life and his friendship with classmate Mark Judge, who became a writer and memoirist.

Education

Following his graduation from Georgetown Preparatory School, Kavanaugh enrolled at Yale University, where he studied history and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree. At Yale, he was a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. He subsequently attended Yale Law School, where he earned his Juris Doctor degree. His education at Yale placed him within a network of legal scholars and future jurists that would shape his subsequent career in law and public service.

Career

Early Legal Career and Clerkships

After graduating from Yale Law School, Kavanaugh embarked on a series of prestigious legal clerkships. He clerked for Judge Ken Starr on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, an experience that forged a lasting professional relationship between the two men. This connection proved consequential when Starr left the D.C. Circuit to lead the Office of Independent Counsel, and Kavanaugh followed him into that role.

Office of Independent Counsel

Kavanaugh served as an associate counsel and later as a senior associate counsel in the Office of Independent Counsel under Ken Starr. In that capacity, he was involved in the investigation of President Bill Clinton, which examined a range of matters including the Whitewater controversy and the president's relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Kavanaugh played a notable role in drafting portions of the Starr Report, the document submitted to Congress in September 1998 that laid out potential grounds for Clinton's impeachment. The report recommended impeachment proceedings based on alleged perjury and obstruction of justice by Clinton. Kavanaugh's involvement in the Starr investigation established him as a figure in Republican legal circles and would later become a focal point during his own judicial confirmation hearings.

Bush Administration

Kavanaugh joined the administration of President George W. Bush, where he served in several capacities. He worked as an associate counsel and then as a senior associate counsel in the White House Counsel's office. In June 2003, he was appointed White House Staff Secretary, a position in which he managed the flow of documents to and from the president's desk. The staff secretary role, while not a public-facing position, placed Kavanaugh at the center of the White House's policy and decision-making processes. He held this position from June 6, 2003, to May 30, 2006, succeeding Harriet Miers in the role. During his time in the Bush administration, Kavanaugh was also a central figure in the White House's efforts to identify and confirm federal judicial nominees, work that gave him extensive knowledge of the federal judiciary and the confirmation process.

D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals

President George W. Bush nominated Kavanaugh to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on July 25, 2003. The nomination proved contentious. Senate Democrats objected to what they characterized as Kavanaugh's partisan background, pointing to his work on the Starr investigation and in the Bush White House as evidence that he lacked the judicial temperament and independence required of a federal appellate judge. His confirmation hearings were stalled for approximately three years as the nomination became entangled in broader disputes between Republicans and Democrats over judicial confirmations.

Kavanaugh was finally confirmed by the Senate on May 26, 2006, and he took his seat on the D.C. Circuit on May 30, 2006, succeeding Judge Laurence Silberman. During his twelve years on the D.C. Circuit, Kavanaugh authored hundreds of opinions on a range of legal issues, including administrative law, separation of powers, statutory interpretation, and the Second Amendment. The D.C. Circuit is often described as the second most important court in the federal system due to its jurisdiction over cases involving federal agencies and executive power, and Kavanaugh's tenure there provided him with extensive experience in these areas.

An analysis by The Washington Post characterized Kavanaugh's judicial record as consistently conservative, noting that it was difficult to find a federal judge more conservative than Kavanaugh on certain measures of judicial ideology.

Supreme Court Nomination

On July 9, 2018, President Donald Trump nominated Kavanaugh to succeed Justice Anthony Kennedy, who had announced his retirement from the Supreme Court. Kennedy had long been considered a pivotal swing vote on the Court, and his departure created an opportunity for a significant ideological shift. Kavanaugh was selected from a list of potential nominees that the Trump administration had previously published in consultation with conservative legal organizations, including the Federalist Society.

The nomination immediately drew intense reactions from both sides of the political spectrum. Supporters emphasized Kavanaugh's extensive judicial experience on the D.C. Circuit and his credentials as a Yale-educated legal scholar. Opponents raised concerns about his conservative judicial philosophy and its potential implications for issues such as abortion rights, executive power, and the Affordable Care Act.

Confirmation Hearings and Sexual Assault Allegations

Kavanaugh's confirmation process became one of the most contentious in the history of the Supreme Court after allegations of sexual misconduct emerged in September 2018. Christine Blasey Ford, a professor of psychology at Palo Alto University, accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a party in the early 1980s, when both were teenagers in the Washington, D.C., area. Ford alleged that Kavanaugh had pinned her to a bed, groped her, and attempted to remove her clothing while his friend Mark Judge was present in the room. Three other women subsequently made accusations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh; one of these accusers later recanted her story.

Kavanaugh categorically denied all of the allegations. None of the accusations were corroborated by eyewitness testimony. Mark Judge, who Ford identified as having been present during the alleged assault, denied any recollection of the event described by Ford.

The Senate Judiciary Committee held a supplemental hearing on September 27, 2018, at which both Ford and Kavanaugh testified. Ford's testimony, in which she described the alleged assault and its lasting psychological impact, was followed by Kavanaugh's forceful denial, during which he expressed anger at what he characterized as a political smear campaign. The hearing was watched by millions of Americans and generated extensive media coverage and public debate.

The Judiciary Committee voted 11–10 along party lines to advance the nomination to the full Senate. The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted a supplemental background investigation into the allegations at the request of several Republican senators, though the scope and thoroughness of this investigation were subjects of dispute. On October 6, 2018, the full Senate confirmed Kavanaugh by a vote of 50–48, one of the narrowest confirmation margins for a Supreme Court justice in modern history.

Subsequently released documents revealed that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had communicated with Ken Starr and others about the Kavanaugh confirmation and accuser Christine Blasey Ford during the proceedings, though there was no indication that Kavanaugh was aware of or involved in these communications.

Supreme Court Tenure

Kavanaugh has served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court since October 6, 2018. Following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in September 2020 and the subsequent confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the ideological balance of the Court shifted, and Kavanaugh has come to occupy a position that commentators have described as a swing vote in certain closely divided cases.

In June 2022, Kavanaugh was the target of an assassination plot. A man armed with a firearm, a knife, and zip ties was arrested near Kavanaugh's home in Maryland after calling police to report his own intentions. The suspect stated that he had hoped to disrupt the Court's pending rulings in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization and New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen. The incident led to the passage of legislation expanding security protections for Supreme Court justices and their families.

In February 2026, Kavanaugh drew significant attention for his dissenting opinion in a case concerning presidential tariff authority. The Supreme Court ruled 6–3 to strike down sweeping tariffs imposed by President Trump. Kavanaugh authored the dissent, which outlined a broad vision of presidential power in the area of trade and foreign policy. President Trump praised Kavanaugh's dissent, calling the justice his "new hero" and thanking him for his "genius and great ability." The dissent was characterized by some commentators as providing a potential legal roadmap for the executive branch to achieve its trade policy objectives through alternative legal mechanisms.

The tariff ruling and Trump's subsequent public praise of Kavanaugh, followed by the president's attacks on other justices who voted in the majority, placed Kavanaugh in a position of considerable public attention. Legal commentators debated whether the president's singling out of Kavanaugh threatened to undermine public perceptions of the Court's independence. Richard J. Lazarus, a professor of law at Harvard Law School, argued in The Washington Post that Kavanaugh had a duty to defend the Court as an institution in the face of executive branch pressure. Other analysts described the moment as potentially historic for Kavanaugh's role on the Court and in the broader relationship between the judiciary and the executive branch.

Personal Life

Kavanaugh resides in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. He and his wife have two children. He attended Georgetown Preparatory School, a Jesuit institution, and has spoken publicly about the influence of his Catholic faith and his upbringing in the Washington area. His mother, Martha Kavanaugh, served as a state circuit court judge in Maryland, and he has cited her career as an inspiration for his own pursuit of law.

The 2022 assassination attempt at his Maryland residence brought heightened security concerns for Kavanaugh and his family. The incident was part of a broader pattern of increased threats against Supreme Court justices following several high-profile and politically charged rulings.

Recognition

Kavanaugh's career has been marked by a series of appointments to positions of increasing prominence within the federal legal system. His appointment to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2006, after a three-year confirmation battle, was viewed as a significant achievement within conservative legal circles. His nomination and subsequent confirmation to the Supreme Court in 2018 represented the culmination of a career that had traversed the independent counsel's office, the White House, and the federal appellate bench.

In February 2026, President Trump publicly praised Kavanaugh, calling him his "new hero" following the justice's dissent in the tariff case, and thanked him for his "genius and great ability." The public acknowledgment by a sitting president of a specific justice's opinion was itself a subject of legal and political commentary, with observers noting the unusual nature of such direct presidential praise for a member of the judiciary.