An Unorthodox Path to Supreme Court Short List

Washington Post: “Brett Kavanaugh’s career had traveled a most unusual path through Washington’s scandals. He had overseen an investigation into whether President Clinton’s deputy counsel, Vincent Foster, had been murdered or committed suicide. He had laid out the grounds for impeaching Clinton in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky affair.”

“After working on the recount that put George W. Bush in the White House, Kavanaugh played a central role in Bush’s administration and was rewarded when his boss nominated him to a federal circuit court. But Democrats held up his nomination, concerned he was too partisan, and his meteoric rise stalled.”

“As Kavanaugh’s nomination languished for a second year, Bush came to him with a question: What type of person should be nominated to the Supreme Court? Kavanaugh said the ‘tiebreaker’ should be someone who is ‘capable of convincing his colleagues through persuasion and strategic thinking,’ Bush wrote in his memoir. Based partly on that advice, Bush picked John G. Roberts Jr., who today is Chief Justice. A year later, Kavanaugh garnered enough votes to become a federal judge.”