who did kavanaugh hire as personal attorney

by Clemens Sporer 6 min read

Who are Brett Kavanaugh's law clerks?

Alexa Baltes '17 J.D. will clerk for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during the 2021-22 term. She will become the third Notre Dame Law School graduate in three years to clerk for a Supreme Court justice. During the 2019-20 term, Audrey Beck '17 J.D. clerked for Justice Kavanaugh, and Laura Wolk '16 J.D.

Who did Brett Kavanaugh clerk for?

He served as a law clerk for Judge Walter Stapleton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from 1990-1991, for Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1991-1992, and for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court during the 1993 Term.

What Justice did Kavanaugh replace?

President Trump nominated Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court on July 9, 2018, to fill the position vacated by retiring associate justice Anthony Kennedy. Later in July, Christine Blasey Ford accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in the early 1980s.

Who is Nicholas roske?

Roske is accused of flying across the country and taking a cab into Kavanaugh's neighborhood in Maryland at 1 a.m. with burglary tools, a newly bought Glock pistol and 37 rounds of ammunition. He has been charged with a single count of attempting to kill a U.S. judge.

How many clerks does a Supreme Court justice get?

Supreme Court justices are entitled to employ four law clerks each term. (The chief justice can hire a fifth law clerk, but only once—John Roberts in 2005—has a chief done so.) Thus, in a decade-long period, justices in active service hire a maximum of 360 clerks.

Which Supreme Court Justices are conservative?

Bush). During this time, Justice David Souter became more liberal. Since 2020, the Roberts Court is more conservative, with six conservative justices that include justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett (appointed by President Donald Trump).

Which justices voted to overturn Roe?

Justices Breyer, Kagan and Sotomayor warned overturning Roe v. Wade would threaten other high court decisions in favor of gay rights and even potentially contraception. The majority “eliminates a 50-year-old constitutional right that safeguards women's freedom and equal station," according to their dissent.

Who replaced Sandra Day O Connor?

Samuel AlitoO'Connor was replaced by Samuel Alito, who became the court's 110th justice in January 2006. In 2022, Alito authored the court's majority opinion overturning both Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, eliminating the Constitutional right to abortion access.

Who appointed Alito?

George W. BushSamuel Alito / AppointerOn October 31, 2005, President George W. Bush nominated Samuel Alito for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Alito's nomination was confirmed by a 58–42 vote of the United States Senate on January 31, 2006.

How many Supreme Court Justices are there?

Nine JusticesNine Justices make up the current Supreme Court: one Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices. The Honorable John G. Roberts, Jr., is the 17th Chief Justice of the United States, and there have been 104 Associate Justices in the Court's history.

Who are the current members of the Supreme Court?

Current MembersJohn G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice of the United States, ... Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice, was born in the Pinpoint community near Savannah, Georgia on June 23, 1948. ... Samuel A. ... Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice, ... Elena Kagan, Associate Justice, ... Neil M. ... Brett M. ... Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice,More items...

Who did Gorsuch clerk for?

Gorsuch clerked for Judge David B. Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit from 1991 to 1992 and U.S. Supreme Court justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy from 1993 to 1994. He is the first Supreme Court justice to serve alongside a justice for whom he once clerked (Kennedy).

Who voted for the overturn of Roe v Wade?

Justices Breyer, Kagan and Sotomayor warned overturning Roe v. Wade would threaten other high court decisions in favor of gay rights and even potentially contraception. The majority “eliminates a 50-year-old constitutional right that safeguards women's freedom and equal station," according to their dissent.

Who did Amy Coney Barrett clerk for?

Clerkships and private practice Barrett spent two years as a judicial law clerk after law school, first for judge Laurence Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1997 to 1998, and then for justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1998 to 1999.

Who took Ruth Bader Ginsburg's place?

Ginsburg died at her home in Washington, D.C., on September 18, 2020, at the age of 87, from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer. The vacancy created by her death was filled 39 days later by Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative.

Who was Kavanaugh's associate counsel?

Ken Starr associate counsel. After his Supreme Court clerkship, Kavanaugh again worked for Ken Starr until 1997 as an Associate Counsel in the Office of the Independent Counsel with colleagues Rod Rosenstein and Alex Azar. In that capacity, he reopened an investigation into the 1993 gunshot death of Vincent Foster.

How many of Kavanaugh's lawyers are women?

Twenty-five of Kavanaugh's 48 law clerks have been women, and 13 people of color. Some have been children of other judges and high-profile legal figures, including Clayton Kozinski (son of former federal Judge Alex Kozinski ), Porter Wilkinson (daughter of Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III ), Philip Alito (son of Justice Samuel Alito ), Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld (daughter of Yale Law professors Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld ), and Emily Chertoff (daughter of former DHS secretary Michael Chertoff ).

Why did Brett Kavanaugh dissentle the en banc circuit?

In November 2010, Kavanaugh dissented from the denial of rehearing en banc after the circuit found that attaching a Global Positioning System tracking device to a vehicle violated the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Supreme Court then affirmed the circuit's judgment in United States v. Jones (2012). In February 2016, Kavanaugh dissented when the en banc circuit refused to rehear police officers' rejected claims of qualified immunity for arresting partygoers in a vacant house. The Supreme Court unanimously reversed the circuit's judgment in District of Columbia v. Wesby (2018).

Why did Kavanaugh argue that the US should not be subject to civil lawsuits?

presidents from civil lawsuits while in office because, among other things, such lawsuits could be "time-consuming and distracting" for the president and would thus "ill serve the public interest, especially in times of financial or national security crisis. Kavanaugh argued that if a president "does something dastardly", they may be impeached by the House of Representatives, convicted by the Senate, and criminally prosecuted after leaving office. He asserted that the U.S. would have been better off if President Clinton could have "focused on Osama bin Laden without being distracted by the Paula Jones sexual harassment case and its criminal investigation offshoots". This article garnered attention in 2018 when Kavanaugh was nominated to the Supreme Court by Trump, whose 2016 presidential campaign was at the time the subject of a federal probe by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

How many times has Kavanaugh written an opinion?

When Kavanaugh has written an opinion and the case has been considered by the Supreme Court, that court has adopted his position 13 times and reversed his position once. These included cases involving environmental regulations, criminal procedure, the separation of powers and extraterritorial jurisdiction in human rights abuse cases. He has been regarded as a feeder judge.

What was Brett Kavanaugh's first case?

United States (1998), Kavanaugh argued his first and only case before the Supreme Court. Arguing for Starr's office, Kavanaugh asked the court to disregard attorney–client privilege in relation to the investigation of Foster's death. The court rejected Kavanaugh's arguments by a vote of 6–3.

When was Brett Kavanaugh appointed to the Supreme Court?

President George W. Bush nominated Kavanaugh to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on July 25, 2003, but his nomination stalled in the Senate for nearly three years.

Who was Kavanaugh's legal counsel?

From 1994 to 1997 and again in 1998, Kavanaugh served on the legal team of independent counsel Kenneth Starr, who led a years-long investigation of Democratic Pres. Bill Clinton that culminated in Clinton’s impeachment on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with his affair with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. Kavanaugh was in charge of the independent counsel ’s investigation into allegations by far-right groups that Clinton and his wife had arranged the murder of deputy White House counsel Vincent Foster (the investigation concluded that Foster had committed suicide), and he later directed Starr’s detailed investigation into Clinton’s sexual relations with Lewinsky. Later still, Kavanaugh assisted the legal team of George W. Bush in its successful effort to end the recount of presidential votes in Florida following the 2000 election ( see Bush v. Gore ). During the late 1990s Kavanaugh also worked in private practice at the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis (1997–98 and 1999–2001), where Starr himself continued to be employed during part of his service as independent counsel.

Who was the woman who accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault?

Christine Blasey Ford , a psychology professor at Palo Alto University, came forward as the author of the letter. She accused Kavanaugh of having sexually assaulted her on an unspecified date in the early 1980s, when both she and Kavanaugh were high-school students.

What did the Democrats and Republicans say about the Kavanaugh hearings?

Democrats argued that the hearings had raised doubts about Kavanaugh’s character and temperament that were serious enough to scuttle his nomination. Republicans countered that the committee had heard no evidence directly corroborating Ford’s claims and—likening the proceedings to a criminal trial—asserted that Kavanaugh should be presumed “innocent until proven guilty.”

Why was Kavanaugh's drinking so controversial?

Because Ford’s testimony described Kavanaugh as having been heavily inebriated at the time of the alleged attack , Kavanaugh’s drinking habits also became a topic of discussion and contention. Critics of Kavanaugh pointed to claims by several people who had known him in high school and college that he had been a very heavy drinker who became belligerent and aggressive when drunk. In his testimony, Kavanaugh acknowledged that he drank but denied that he did so to excess. Some Democrats on the committee charged that Kavanaugh’s denials had been untruthful and that those misrepresentations alone, because they amounted to perjury, should have disqualified him from the Court.

What university did Brett Kavanaugh go to?

Admitted to Yale University, which his paternal grandfather Everett Edward Kavanaugh, Sr., had attended in the 1920s, Kavanaugh graduated cum laude in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in history. He then studied at Yale Law School, earning a law degree in 1990.

When was Kavanaugh confirmed?

In January 2006 Bush again nominated Kavanaugh to the D.C. Circuit, and he was finally confirmed in May. Because the D.C. Circuit has jurisdiction over many federal administrative agencies, it plays a larger role than other appellate courts in adjudicating federal regulations.

Who were the witnesses called to the Kavanaugh trial?

Initially reluctant to acknowledge the accusations, the Judiciary Committee’s Republican majority eventually relented to public pressure and scheduled an additional day of hearings. Ford and Kavanaugh were the only two witnesses called, each testifying before the committee for several hours. The additional hearings were criticized by partisans of both parties, Democrats complaining that the committee had not called Mark Judge, a friend of Kavanaugh’s whom Ford had identified as a witness of the alleged attack, and Republicans arguing that Democrats had strategically withheld information about Ford’s accusations until the last minute.

Shannon Grammel

A graduate of Harvard University and Stanford University, Grammel is a former president of the Stanford Law Review, according to The Washington Post. She’s also served as a law clerk for other judges appointed by Republican presidents, The New York Times reported.

Kim Jackson

Jackson already has practice working for Kavanaugh; she worked for him on the appeals court, according to The Times. Also like Kavanaugh, she went to Yale Law School.

Megan Lacy

A graduate of the University of Virginia Law School and Hillsdale College, Lacy was on the White House team tasked with handling Kavanaugh’s nomination, according to The Post. Lacy is a former counsel to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and spoke at a Network of Enlightened Women event for conservative women in 2016.

Sara Nommensen

Nommensen is a former student of Kavanaugh’s, having taken his class at Harvard Law School, The Post reported. Aside from her clerkships, she most recently worked in the Justice Department’s office of legal counsel. At Harvard, Nommensen was vice president of social activities for the school's Federalist Society chapter.

What's the next step in Kavanaugh nomination battle?

WASHINGTON — Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans said Tuesday that they had hired an outside attorney to question Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused him of sexually assaulting her, at the committee's hearing on Thursday.

How are Kavanaugh and Ford preparing for their Senate hearing?

"The goal is to de-politicize the process and get to the truth, instead of grandstanding and giving senators an opportunity to launch their presidential campaigns," Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the committee's chairman, said in a statement. "I’m very appreciative that Rachel Mitchell has stepped forward to serve in this important and serious role."

Trump reportedly sounds 'fatalistic' on Kavanaugh in private

Meanwhile, both President Donald Trump and leading Hill Republicans continued to take a sharper tone Tuesday on the accusations against Kavanaugh.

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Overview

Nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States

On July 2, 2018, Kavanaugh was one of four U.S. Court of Appeals judges to receive a personal 45-minute interview by President Donald Trump as a potential replacement for Justice Anthony Kennedy. On July 9, Trump nominated Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. In his first public speech after the nomination, Kavanaugh said, "No president has ever consulted more widely or talked with …

Early life and education

Kavanaugh was born on February 12, 1965, in Washington, D.C., the son of Martha Gamble (née Murphy) and Everett Edward Kavanaugh Jr. He is of Irish Catholic descent on both sides of his family. His paternal great-grandfather immigrated to the United States from Roscommon, Ireland, in the late 19th century, and his maternal Irish lineage goes back to his great-great-grandparents settling in New Jersey. Kavanaugh's father was a lawyer and served as the president of the Cos…

Legal career (1990–2006)

Kavanaugh served as a law clerk for Judge Walter King Stapleton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from 1990 to 1991. During his clerkship, Stapleton wrote the majority opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, in which the Third Circuit upheld many of Pennsylvania's abortion restrictions. Kavanaugh then clerked for Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals fo…

U.S. Circuit Judge (2006–2018)

President George W. Bush nominated Kavanaugh to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on July 25, 2003, but his nomination stalled in the Senate for nearly three years. Democratic senators accused him of being too partisan, with Senator Dick Durbin calling him the "Forrest Gump of Republican politics". In 2003, the American Bar Association had rated Kavanau…

U.S. Supreme Court (2018–present)

Kavanaugh began his tenure as Supreme Court justice on October 9, 2018, hearing arguments for Stokeling v. United States and United States v. Stitt.
In November 2020, Kavanaugh was reassigned to both the Sixth Circuit and the Eighth Circuit. He had previously been assigned to the Seventh Circuit, which covers federal courts in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Circuit justices are prin…

Teaching and scholarship

Kavanaugh taught full-term courses on separation of powers at Harvard Law School from 2008 to 2015, on the Supreme Court at Harvard Law School between 2014 and 2018, on National Security and Foreign Relations Law at Yale Law School in 2011, and on Constitutional Interpretation at Georgetown University Law Center in 2007. He was named the Samuel Williston Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School in 2009. In 2008, Kavanaugh was hired as a visiting professor by Elena Kagan, …

Personal life

Kavanaugh and Ashley Estes, the personal secretary to former President George W. Bush, married in 2004; the couple have two daughters. They live in Chevy Chase Section Five, Maryland.
Kavanaugh ran the Boston Marathon in 2010 and 2015. His bibs bore non-qualifying numbers, assigned for a charity or a "guest" rather than an age-base…