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.”

New York Times: “According to a person close to the president, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who has served 12 years on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, is the leading candidate in the president’s mind, followed by Judge Amy Coney Barrett and then Judge Raymond Kethledge.”

“Mr. Trump believes Judge Kavanaugh has been on the bench long enough to give the president a sense of where he stands on various issues and that Judge Barrett is fairly young and could use more judicial experience. The administration might want to keep her in reserve should Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 85, leave the court.”

Washington Post: “An intensifying debate over Judge Brett Kavanaugh… gripped Republicans on Tuesday, with conservative critics highlighting past rulings and his links to GOP leaders while his allies — including inside the White House — forcefully defended him.”