Political News

With battle over, a new justice quickly gets to work and sets a record

WASHINGTON -- A day after the bitter fight over his nomination ended in his elevation to the Supreme Court, Justice Brett Kavanaugh was in his new chambers Sunday, preparing for the arguments the court is to hear as it enters the second week of its term.
Posted 2018-10-07T22:18:13+00:00 - Updated 2018-10-08T11:45:14+00:00
WATCH: US Senate confirms Kavanaugh nomination

WASHINGTON — A day after the bitter fight over his nomination ended in his elevation to the Supreme Court, Justice Brett Kavanaugh was in his new chambers Sunday, preparing for the arguments the court is to hear as it enters the second week of its term.

His supporters hope he can settle into the court’s work, demonstrate that he is an able judge and put accusations of sexual misconduct and questions about his temperament behind him. His critics say the court may never fully recover from a confirmation process marked by raw anger and partisan polarization.

Judge Brett Kavanaugh testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 27, 2018. Kavanaugh's fire-and-fury performance -- "you have replaced 'advice and consent' with search and destroy" -- gave him the momentum he needed through the most dramatic Supreme Court confirmation battle in a quarter-century. (Gabriella Demczuk/The New York Times)
Judge Brett Kavanaugh testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 27, 2018. Kavanaugh's fire-and-fury performance -- "you have replaced 'advice and consent' with search and destroy" -- gave him the momentum he needed through the most dramatic Supreme Court confirmation battle in a quarter-century. (Gabriella Demczuk/The New York Times)

Kavanaugh met with his four law clerks, all women — a first for the Supreme Court — in chambers that had until recently been occupied by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who has moved to Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s old chambers.

It was Kennedy’s retirement that set off a fierce battle for his seat, one that concluded Saturday with a 50-48 Senate vote to confirm Kavanaugh — the tightest margin for a successful nomination since 1881.

In the second round of his confirmation hearings last month, Kavanaugh fiercely denied accusations that he had assaulted Christine Blasey Ford while the two were in high school. He said he had always treated women with respect, noting his strong record of hiring women as law clerks in his dozen years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

FILE -- Judge Brett Kavanaugh is sworn in by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 4, 2018. The 90-day battle to install Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court proved to be the most dramatic confirmation fight in a quarter-century, exposing the dark corners of America’s struggle with sex and power. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)
FILE -- Judge Brett Kavanaugh is sworn in by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 4, 2018. The 90-day battle to install Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court proved to be the most dramatic confirmation fight in a quarter-century, exposing the dark corners of America’s struggle with sex and power. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)

He added in his testimony that he had provisionally hired his four Supreme Court clerks before allegations of sexual misconduct against him had surfaced. “All four are women,” he said. Counting Kavanaugh’s new clerks, women make up a majority of Supreme Court clerks for the first time.

Kavanaugh’s critics said his efforts were laudable, given that a Supreme Court clerkship is perhaps the most coveted credential in American law. But they added that it would take more than hiring female clerks to undo the damage left by Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings.

“I applaud in general a commitment to hiring a diverse group of clerks, and hope all the justices encourage applicants of color, women and those with backgrounds beyond the usual elite,” said Elizabeth Wydra, the president of the Constitutional Accountability Center, a liberal group that opposed Kavanaugh’s nomination.

Demonstrators outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Oct. 6, 2018. The full Senate was set for a final vote on Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination later Saturday, possibly concluding the most tumultuous Supreme Court confirmation process in decades. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times)
Demonstrators outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Oct. 6, 2018. The full Senate was set for a final vote on Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination later Saturday, possibly concluding the most tumultuous Supreme Court confirmation process in decades. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times)

“Unfortunately, it’s going to take a lot more than female clerks to undo the damage to the legitimacy of the court done by this travesty of a confirmation process. Women will feel much more confident in the court when their fundamental rights are protected and their equal dignity is respected in the rulings handed down by the justices.”

Kavanaugh’s supporters said he should be judged by his hiring record. “He’s been promoting professional opportunities for women his entire career,” said Porter Wilkinson, who served as a law clerk to Kavanaugh when he was an appeals court judge and who was on his confirmation team.

New justices often hire their former clerks when they start at the court, but only one of Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court clerks, Kim Jackson, worked for him on the appeals court. The other three — Shannon Grammel, Megan Lacy and Sara Nommensen — worked for appeals court judges appointed by Republican presidents.

Lacy had also worked for Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who helped push through Kavanaugh’s nomination.

Kavanaugh said in his testimony last month that he had started to take action to address the underrepresentation of women among law clerks after reading a 2006 article in The New York Times noting that only seven of 37 Supreme Court clerks were women.

“A majority of my 48 law clerks over the last 12 years have been women,” he told the Senate Judiciary Committee. “In my time on the bench, no federal judge — not a single one in the country — has sent more women law clerks to clerk on the Supreme Court than I have.”

While some justices have expressed worries about damage to the court’s image by the rancorous confirmation process, Kavanaugh has deep connections to the court, ones that will ease his transition.

He served as a law clerk to Kennedy in 1993 and 1994, early in the tenures of the two longest-serving members of the court, Clarence Thomas and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Kavanaugh attended high school with President Donald Trump’s first appointee, Justice Neil Gorsuch.

Kavanaugh will see other familiar faces at the courthouse. He was a leading “feeder judge,” sending law clerks from his appeals court chambers to justices across the ideological spectrum. This term, six of his former clerks are working at the Supreme Court, double the number of any other appeals court judge. Four of them are women.

Credits