Supreme Court Nominations: Background Reading for Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh’s Nomination
July 13, 2018
Interested in learning more about Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court seat vacated by retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy? The following resources are a great place to start:
- Georgetown Law Library’s Supreme Court Nominations Research Guide : This resource provides an explanation of the nomination and confirmation process, along with individualized collections for recent Supreme Court nominees. The collection of materials for Judge Kavanaugh includes links to biographies, transcripts from hearings related to his nomination to the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, a selection of notable decisions authored by him, a list of his publications, and videos of various speeches.
- Library of Congress – Presidential Nominations : This collection from the Library of Congress website contains additional books/articles written by Judge Kavanaugh, along with some of his noteworthy opinions and transcripts from his confirmation to the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.
If you would like to learn more about the overall process for Supreme Court nominations and confirmations, the following resources are a good place to start:
- United States Senate Record of Supreme Court Nominations : This resource includes a list of all Supreme Court nominations from 1789-present, along with basic information from the confirmation process. It also provides links to related materials from the confirmation process for each nominee, including Senate voting records and Senate Judiciary Hearings transcripts.
- Senate Committee on the Judiciary : This website provides a brief overview of Article III of the United States Constitution and also provides links to additional histories of the Supreme Court and committee voting records on recent Supreme Court nominees.
- Government Printing Office – Transcripts of Supreme Court Nomination Hearings : This resource provides access to transcripts from all Supreme Court nomination hearings from 1971-present.
Update (9/07/2018): The University of Virginia School of Law has completed its Kavanaugh Project, which provides access to Judge Kavanaugh’s opinions (majority, concurrence, and dissent) during his tenure on the United States Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit. There are options to browse the opinions via topic or to keyword search in the full text of all opinions.