VOX: Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump's Supreme Court finalist, explained

[Quixote1818]

President Donald Trump is set to announce his nominee for Anthony Kennedy’s seat on the Supreme Court Monday evening at 9 pm, and by all accounts, a frontrunner for the position is DC Circuit Court of Appeals judge Brett Kavanaugh.

Kavanaugh, 53, is a candidate straight out of Supreme Court central casting: He went to Yale and Yale Law (every current justice either attended that school or Harvard Law); he clerked for two federal appellate judges, including the well-known Alex Kozinski; worked in the solicitor general’s office in the George H.W. Bush administration; and then clerked for Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court. Since 2006, he has sat on the DC Circuit, which also produced current justices John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

It’s not for nothing that on Sunday the Federalist Society’s Leonard Leo, who has been Trump’s most important adviser on court nominations, singled Kavanaugh out as one of the two most promising contenders for Kennedy’s seat, alongside the Seventh Circuit’s Amy Coney Barrett.

His resumé is the one every ambitious college Republican hoping to be on the Supreme Court one day dreams of building. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) once called him the “Forrest Gump of Republican politics.” But his likely nomination is sparking substantial debate among movement conservatives. He has his defenders, but concern has been growing in right-wing legal circles about his decisions in religious liberty cases and on Obamacare. Even cautiously pro-Kavanaugh writers are skeptical he’s the best possible pick. “There’s a difference between a home run and a grand slam,” as National Review’s David French put it.

More: https://www.vox.com/explainers/2018/7/9/17540334/brett-kavanaugh-trump-supreme-court-anthony-kennedy

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

1. Just what we need..

another play stupid "gosh and golly" Gorsuch. No thanks.

[Quixote1818]

2. Yep, he sounds terrible after reading this. I think Trump likes him because he might protect him

from Mueller and we know everything is about Trump first so that was probably why he picked him.

[joshcryer]

4. Trump likes him because he's a freebie.

No hard choices, no discussion, he was the guy "in line" for the next appointment.

[Quixote1818]

5. What about this line from the article

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has expressed concern that Kavanaugh’s long track record will produce too many documents for the Senate to pore over, elongating the confirmation process and making it hard to get Kavanaugh on the court quickly.

[joshcryer]

6. His appeal court confirmation took 3 years.

He's not new to this. Though that was over a decade ago and computers and digitization may make it easier to fast track it.

He'll do admirably at the hearings and no one will be able to present him a "gotcha." His views are internally consistent.

[joshcryer]

3. Probably the easiest confirmation in a long time.

He will be able to answer the Roe v Wade question with ease since he's been consistent on the matter.

[UTUSN]

7. K&R