Trump to Nominate Brett Kavanaugh to U.S. Supreme Court

President Donald J. Trump announced his intent to nominate Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to fill the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy created by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s pending retirement.

An ALI member since 2009, Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh has served on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit since 2006. A cum laude graduate of Yale College, he went on to earn a J.D. at Yale Law School where he served as Notes Editor of the Yale Law Journal. He clerked for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on the U.S. Supreme Court and was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis before holding several high-ranking legal posts in the White House under President George W. Bush, including Staff Secretary in the Executive Office of the President of the United States.

Prior to his Supreme Court clerkship, Judge Kavanaugh had clerked for two federal appellate judges—Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit and Judge Walter K. Stapleton of the Third Circuit.

While at Kirkland & Ellis, Judge Kavanaugh’s practice focused on appellate matters. He also served as an Associate Counsel in the Office of Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr, where he handled a number of novel constitutional and legal issues in several high-profile investigations.

After George W. Bush became President in 2001, Judge Kavanaugh served for two years as Senior Associate Counsel and Associate Counsel to the President. In that capacity, he worked on the numerous constitutional, legal, and ethical issues handled by that office. Starting in 2003, he served as Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary. In that capacity, he was responsible for coordinating documents to and from the President.

Judge Kavanaugh has taught full-term courses on Separation of Powers at Harvard Law School. He has also taught Constitutional Interpretation at Georgetown University Law Center and National Security and Foreign Relations Law at Yale Law School. He served as an Adviser to the Institute’s Principles of the Law, Election Administration: Non-Precinct Voting and Resolution of Ballot-Counting Disputes.

In 2013, Judge Kavanaugh spoke at ALI’s 90th Annual Meeting. Below is the video of his remarks.