The Honorable Brett Kavanaugh ’83 was nominated on July 9 to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States.
Since 2006, Judge Kavanaugh has served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Washington, D.C., Circuit.
A native Washingtonian, Judge Kavanaugh was a member of Georgetown Prep’s varsity basketball and football teams and served on the staff of the Little Hoya, the school’s newspaper. After graduating from Prep in 1983, he matriculated at Yale University (1987) and earned his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1990. He served as the Notes Editor for the Yale Law Review while in law school.
After law school, Judge Kavanaugh clerked for Judge Walter Stapleton of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and Judge Alex Kozinski of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In 1993, he earned a clerkship with Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy of the United States Supreme Court. Justice Kennedy announced his retirement from the Court in late June.
In 1994, Judge Kavanaugh served as an Associate Counsel in the office of the Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr during the President William Clinton investigation. He was later named as a partner of the law firm Kirkland and Ellis in Washington, D.C. In 2003, Judge Kavanaugh was named Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary to President George W. Bush.
Judge Kavanaugh is the second Georgetown Prep alumnus to be nominated to serve on the United States Supreme Court; on January 31, 2017, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch ’85 was nominated by President Trump and confirmed in April 2017 as an Associate Justice.
Rev. James R. Van Dyke, S.J., president of Georgetown Prep, noted on Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination, “I would like to congratulate Judge Kavanaugh on his nomination to serve on the nation’s highest court. I had the opportunity to meet Judge Kavanaugh at Georgetown Prep’s alumni business network event in May 2018; he is a proud Prep alumnus and holds the school in the highest regard. Judge Kavanaugh has Georgetown Prep’s prayers and support as he faces the confirmation process.”
All Supreme Court nominations must be confirmed by the United States Senate.