Better Late Than Never: Brett Kavanaugh Confirmed to the D.C. Circuit

When Brett Kavanaugh was first nominated to the D.C. Circuit, he wasn't even married. Now he and his wife -- Bush's personal secretary, Ashley Estes -- have a college-age daughter.

(Okay, fine, it hasn't been that long. But Brett and Ashley's daughter, Margaret, is almost nine months old.)

After three long years, Brett Kavanaugh (AMK/OT 1993) -- a former law clerk to Judge Walter K. Stapleton and Judge Alex Kozinski, both of whom testified before the Senate on his behalf -- has been confirmed to the D.C. Circuit. The vote was 57-37. Congratulations, Judge Kavanaugh!

It's a good time of year to be joining the D.C. Circuit. Those judicial mandarins take the summer off -- just like the Supreme Court, a common destination for D.C. Circuit members. So Judge Kavanaugh will have a few months to get his chambers up and running before oral arguments start.

The rumor mill is saying that Kavanaugh may pick up some of the displaced Luttig clerks for next year. Can anyone confirm?

Comments

He hired a third clerk -- the male former Alito clerk who went to Becker.

[Aurel]

The boys at ConfirmThem.com are convinced that either Stevens or Souter or both will retire at the end of this Term....and Bill Kristol in this week's Weekly Standard seems to buy into it.

Care to comment?

[default]

A3G didn't forget to mention Kavanaugh's membership in the elect! That "(AMK/OT 1993)" after his name means "Anthony McLeod Kennedy/October Term 1993." Perhaps A3G should have a glossary?

And the Kozinski-AMK stuff isn't very interesting unless you were looking for more proof of how insular and self-perpetuating the clerkship world is. If you can't tell, I think that's a bad thing. But I also think it's a bad thing to put on the bench a co-author of the Starr report who's way to close to the president and is only 37 years old, so whatever.

[CAFC Groupie]

A3G, you failed to mention that Judge Kavanaugh is a member of the Elect! He clerked for Justice Kennedy. Or, as Orin Kerr points out over at Volokh Conspiracy (http://volokh.com/posts/1148707349.shtml):

Kavanaugh clerked for Judge Kozinski, who was a former clerk for then-Judge Anthony Kennedy. After clerking for Judge Kozinski, Kavanaugh clerked for now-Justice Kennedy. So Kavanaugh clerked for Kozinksi, who clerked for Kennedy, who Kozinski's clerk Kavanaugh also clerked for. Of course, whether you find all of this Kool or Kooky is up to you.