Researching Brett Kavanaugh

Kavanaugh studied history at Yale University, where he joined Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. He then attended Yale Law School, after which he began his career as a law clerk working under Judge Ken Starr. After Starr left the D.C. Circuit to become the head of the Office of Independent Counsel, Kavanaugh assisted him with various investigations concerning President Bill Clinton, including drafting the Starr Report recommending Clinton's impeachment. After the 2000 U.S. presidential election, in which he worked for George W. Bush's campaign in the Florida recount, he joined the Bush administration as White House staff secretary and was a central figure in its efforts to identify and confirm judicial nominees. Bush nominated Kavanaugh to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 2003. His confirmation hearings were contentious and stalled for three years over charges of partisanship. He was ultimately confirmed to the D.C. Circuit in May 2006 after a series of negotiations between Democratic and Republican U.S. senators. Two law professors performed an evaluation of Kavanaugh's appellate court decisions in four separate public policy areas for the Washington Post. It found he had been "one of the most conservative judges on the D.C. Circuit" from 2003 to 2018.

President Trump nominated Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court on July 9, 2018, to fill the position vacated by retiring associate justice Anthony Kennedy. Later in July, Christine Blasey Ford accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in the early 1980s while the two were in high school. Two other women also accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. Kavanaugh denied all the accusations. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a supplemental hearing over Ford's allegations. Afterward, it voted 11–10 along party lines to advance the confirmation to a full Senate vote. On October 6, the full Senate confirmed Kavanaugh by a vote of 50–48, with one Democrat voting to confirm and one Republican opposing him but not voting.