The Education of Brett Kavanaugh Read online

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  Copyright © 2019 by Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Pogrebin, Robin, author. | Kelly, Kate, 1975–, author.

  Title: The education of Brett Kavanaugh / Robin Pogrebin, Kate Kelly.

  Description: New York : Portfolio/Penguin, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2019027621 (print) | LCCN 2019027622 (ebook) | ISBN 9780593084397 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780593084403 (ebook)

  Subjects: LCSH: Kavanaugh, Brett Michael, 1965– | United States. Supreme Court—Officials and employees—Biography. | Judges—United States—Biography.

  Classification: LCC KF8745.K38 P64 2019 (print) | LCC KF8745.K38 (ebook) | DDC 347.73/263 [B]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019027621

  LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019027622

  While the authors have made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers, internet addresses, and other contact information at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the authors assume any responsibility for errors or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  Cover design: Christopher Sergio

  Version_1

  To our families

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Authors’ Note

  Dramatis Personae

  PROLOGUE

  Nostos:

  Homecoming

  ONE

  Alea Iacta Est:

  The Die Has Been Cast

  TWO

  Hoya Saxa:

  What Rocks

  THREE

  Inveniam Viam aut Faciam:

  I Will Find a Way or Make One

  FOUR

  Lux et Veritas:

  Light and Truth

  FIVE

  Onus Probandi:

  The Burden of Proof

  SIX

  Ambitio:

  Ambition, or Courting the Vote

  SEVEN

  Vides Stygiam Paludem:

  You Are Gazing at the Stygian Swamp

  EIGHT

  Iudicans Iudicem:

  Judging the Judge

  NINE

  Innocens:

  The Innocent

  TEN

  Lege Dura Vivunt Mulieres:

  Women Live Under a Harsh Law

  ELEVEN

  Inde Ira et Lacrimae:

  Then Anger and Tears

  TWELVE

  Falsus in Uno, Falsus in Omnibus?:

  False in One Thing, False in All Things?

  THIRTEEN

  Concordia Ordinum:

  Agreement Among the Ranks

  FOURTEEN

  Confirmatio—Sed Quis Custodiet Custodes?:

  Confirmation—But Who Will Watch the Watchers?

  EPILOGUE

  Hamartia:

  Missing the Mark

  Notes

  About the Authors

  AUTHORS’ NOTE

  On September 28, 2018, after a wrenching Senate hearing in which a California professor accused the Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her as a teenager, the Federal Bureau of Investigation opened an inquiry into the matter. Ten people were interviewed. Kavanaugh and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, were not among them.

  Six days later, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee gathered in a secure facility to review the FBI’s report on the allegations. It was inconclusive. Armed with two deeply conflicting accounts and little else but contextual details, the committee voted to confirm Kavanaugh to the high court on October 6. Later that day, he took the oath of office.

  During that same period, dozens of people from Kavanaugh’s past clamored to be heard. The FBI, Senate offices, and newsrooms had been overwhelmed with messages from friends, former classmates, and acquaintances of the judge, offering a range of perspectives on his life and work. Some had known Kavanaugh as a youth. Others knew him at different points in his career. The vast majority were never able to reach the FBI to have their input considered.

  With so many loose ends dangling, much of the country had a sense of unfinished business—and so did we. Thanks to unexpected news tips and our shared backgrounds with the judge, we had been pulled off our regular beats at The New York Times—Robin culture and Kate business—to join the team covering Kavanaugh’s confirmation. Robin was in Kavanaugh’s class at Yale, just a few doors away from him in the freshman dorm. Like Kavanaugh, Kate grew up in the Washington, D.C., area and attended a girls’ high school in the network of his high school, Georgetown Prep.

  After Kavanaugh was confirmed, we put away our notebooks and moved on to other stories. But we continued to think about the leads that had come to light during the confirmation process and the questions that remained unanswered.

  Did Brett Kavanaugh assault one or several women during his youth? Should he be on the Supreme Court, where he is poised to be a swing vote on matters of security, social justice, and personal freedom? How do we dispassionately examine these questions when the allegations are so emotionally resonant for so many people? And what did we learn about Justice Kavanaugh, our country, and ourselves from the polarizing confirmation process?

  We set out to complete the investigation. Over a ten-month period, we read thousands of pages of media accounts and public documents; studied high school and college writings from the 1980s; watched video of Kavanaugh’s past speeches and testimony; and conducted hundreds of interviews.

  In the course of our efforts, we spoke to Ford, Deborah Ramirez, Leland Keyser, and, briefly, to Mark Judge. Kavanaugh himself declined to be interviewed.

  We are grateful to the scores of other people who informed our work, many of whom are on the record and are referenced in the text. Because of the heated nature of the Kavanaugh confirmation debate and the harassment and death threats endured by Kavanaugh, Ford, and others involved, many of our sources declined to be identified by name. Their recollections are embedded in this book but not cited individually.

  Some of our published sources are referred to directly in the text of the book. In places where sources are not noted in the main body of the text, or where further reading could be informative, we have referenced our sources in the notes. Information that is not explicitly noted in either place comes from source interviews or documents that are not publicly available and have been reviewed by the authors with the understanding that the source would not be named.

  For Kavanaugh—and for our country—the confirmation was an education in the political partisanship and cultural sensitivities of the current moment two years after a polarizing presidential election and one year into the galvanizing #MeToo movement. It was also a cautionary tale of how past behavi
or can impact future prospects—a heightened reality in the age of social media, when so much is now recorded.

  We realize that our readers will evaluate the results of our investigation through their own perspectives. In the course of our reporting, we saw how easy it was for observers to project onto the confirmation process whatever they wanted to believe. Even without a fuller sense of the facts, many had already made up their minds.

  It is hard—maybe impossible—to set aside personal history or political orientation when considering the questions about Kavanaugh. If Kavanaugh mistreated Ford and Ramirez but has conducted himself honorably in the past thirty-six years, does he deserve to be on the court? If there is not dispositive proof that Kavanaugh engaged in such misbehavior, were the accusations enough to eliminate him from consideration? Was his temperament during the last day of testimony in itself disqualifying?

  We leave those conclusions to our readers. No doubt they will be debated for many years to come.

  DRAMATIS PERSONAE

  BRETT M. KAVANAUGH, judge on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

  ASHLEY ESTES KAVANAUGH, his wife

  MARTHA KAVANAUGH, his mother

  EDWARD KAVANAUGH, his father

  FROM KAVANAUGH’S TIME AT GEORGETOWN PREP

  MARK JUDGE, journalist and author, former classmate

  PATRICK J. SMYTH, managing director at accounting firm, former classmate

  CHRIS GARRETT, teacher and former classmate

  DONALD J. URGO, former classmate and close friend

  TOM DOWNEY, former classmate

  WILLIAM FISHBURNE, former classmate

  PAUL RENDÓN, teacher and former classmate

  MICHAEL BIDWILL, football team president and friend

  GREGORY PAPPAJOHN, former classmate

  JOE CONAGHAN, former classmate

  RENATE SCHROEDER DOLPHIN, high school friend

  FROM KAVANAUGH’S TIME AT YALE COLLEGE

  DAVID WHITE, former suitemate and friend of Kavanaugh

  KEVIN GENDA, former classmate and friend of Kavanaugh

  KAREN YARASAVAGE, former classmate and friend of Kavanaugh

  DAVID TODD, former classmate and friend of Kavanaugh

  MARK KRASBERG, professor and former classmate

  KENNETH APPOLD, religious historian and former classmate

  JAMES ROCHE, tech company executive, former roommate

  TRACY HARMON JOYCE, former classmate

  RICHARD OH, emergency-room doctor and former classmate

  KERRY BERCHEM, lawyer and former schoolmate (class of 1988)

  CHAD LUDINGTON, former classmate

  MALCOLM FRANK, former schoolmate (class of 1988)

  FROM KAVANAUGH’S TIME AT YALE LAW SCHOOL

  JAMES E. “JEB” BOASBERG, federal appeals court judge and close friend

  RICHARD ROBERTS, real estate investor and former classmate

  KENNETH CHRISTMAS, entertainment executive and former classmate

  ON CAPITOL HILL

  CHARLES GRASSLEY, Republican senator from Iowa, chairman of the Judiciary Committee

  DIANNE FEINSTEIN, Democratic senator from California, ranking member of the Judiciary Committee

  MIKE DAVIS, chief nominations counsel to the committee

  JENNIFER DUCK, Democratic staff director for the committee, Feinstein’s former chief of staff

  LINDSEY GRAHAM, Republican senator from South Carolina, committee member

  AMY KLOBUCHAR, Democratic senator from Minnesota, committee member

  SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Democratic senator from Rhode Island, committee member

  CHRISTOPHER COONS, Democratic senator from Delaware, committee member

  JEFF FLAKE, Republican senator from Arizona, committee member

  MITCH MCCONNELL, Senate majority leader

  IN SILICON VALLEY

  CHRISTINE BLASEY FORD, psychology professor

  RUSSELL FORD, her husband

  ANNA ESHOO, Democratic congresswoman from California’s Eighteenth District

  KAREN CHAPMAN, Eshoo’s district chief of staff

  KEITH KOEGLER, friend of Ford

  JAY BACKSTRAND, friend of Ford

  KIRSTEN LEIMROTH, friend of Ford

  REID HOFFMAN, entrepreneur

  MARK PINCUS, entrepreneur

  IN COLORADO

  DEBORAH RAMIREZ, volunteer coordinator and Kavanaugh’s classmate

  VIKRAM SHAH, her husband

  STAN GARNETT, lawyer to Ramirez

  JOHN CLUNE, lawyer to Ramirez

  IN THE WHITE HOUSE

  DONALD J. TRUMP, president

  DONALD F. MCGAHN II, chief counsel

  KERRI KUPEC, spokeswoman

  IN WASHINGTON

  ANTHONY KENNEDY, retiring Supreme Court justice

  CHERYL AMITAY, former schoolmate and supporter of Ford

  LISA BANKS, lawyer to Ford

  ZINA BASH, lawyer and former clerk to Kavanaugh

  MICHAEL BROMWICH, lawyer to Ford

  WILLIAM A. BURCK, lawyer and friend of Kavanaugh

  MERRICK GARLAND, chief judge of the D.C. Circuit Court and colleague to Kavanaugh

  NEIL M. GORSUCH, Supreme Court justice, former Georgetown Prep schoolmate to Kavanaugh

  DEBRA KATZ, lawyer to Ford

  LELAND INGHAM KEYSER, former classmate and friend of Ford

  ROMAN MARTINEZ, lawyer and former clerk to Kavanaugh

  MONICA MCLEAN, former classmate and friend of Ford

  TRAVIS LENKNER, lawyer and former clerk to Kavanaugh

  LARRY ROBBINS, lawyer to Ford

  RICKI SEIDMAN, adviser to Ford

  KENNETH W. STARR, independent counsel during the Whitewater investigation, 1994–1998

  HOWARD WALSH, lawyer to Leland Ingham Keyser and fellow parishioner

  PORTER WILKINSON, chief of staff to institutional board, former clerk to Kavanaugh

  CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI director and Yale schoolmate of Kavanaugh

  ELSEWHERE

  ALEX KOZINSKI, retired federal judge and mentor to Kavanaugh

  REBECCA TAIBLESON, federal prosecutor and former clerk to Kavanaugh

  PROLOGUE

  Nostos

  Homecoming

  It was cold for October, with evening temperatures dropping into the forties as alumni poured onto Georgetown Preparatory School’s leafy campus in suburban Maryland for their thirty-fifth-year high school reunion. It had been a tumultuous day for the country. A Florida man had been arrested for sending package bombs to more than a dozen prominent Democrats, including former president Barack Obama and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Despite the serious threat, President Donald Trump was focused on the upcoming midterm congressional elections and wanted his party to do the same. The “‘Bomb’ stuff,” as Trump put it in a tweet, risked slowing Republican momentum at a critical time.

  On the Georgetown Prep campus, hundreds of former students were gathering in the George Center, a large brick building adjacent to the football stadium where the school store and snack bar were located. Nicknamed “Stag Night” because significant others were not invited, the Friday evening cocktail gathering was the traditional start to Reunion Weekend. There would be welcome speeches from school officials; wisecracks about thickening waists and thinning hair; beer and finger food.

  The next day, about four hundred people would gather to watch the school’s football team, the Hoyas, play the homecoming game against Episcopal High School, despite the chilly, wet afternoon. During the years when it was still part of Georgetown University, Prep had at some point dubbed its teams the “Hoyas,” which derived from the Latin cheer “Hoya Saxa!” (translation: “What Rocks!”). After this particular homecoming game—during which the Hoyas trounced their Episcopal High rivals
, 24–6—classmates, spouses, and friends would toast over cocktails and trade stories at nearby Pinstripes, a bistro/bowling-and-bocce venue in North Bethesda.

  Brett Kavanaugh typically welcomed these rare opportunities to reconnect and reminisce with old friends. But this year, he had seriously considered opting out. Three weeks had passed since his confirmation as the newest associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, about six since the devastating accusation that almost derailed it. So when he arrived on campus for his reunion, Kavanaugh was steeled for awkward interactions.

  At the same time, he appeared resolutely upbeat, in keeping with his often articulated philosophy to “live on the sunrise side of the mountain.”

  As a justice on America’s highest court, Kavanaugh now had a security detail that followed him to public places, particularly since, during the confirmation process, his wife had been targeted by vicious emails and his family had received death threats. Many of Kavanaugh’s fellow Georgetown Prep alumni had been supportive. Nearly two hundred had signed a letter endorsing his Supreme Court candidacy when he was nominated. Some had even gone on TV to praise his character. But given the polarizing nature of the hearings, he knew that not everyone stood behind him.

  The reunion was likely to be particularly fraught because the Georgetown Prep campus had been central to the drama. The friendships Kavanaugh built at the all-boys high school, the sports he played, and the hallways where he bantered with classmates had all featured prominently in his very public interrogation. Here was the lawn outside Boland Hall, where on Monday mornings before first period he and his friends recounted their weekend adventures. There was the football field, festooned with blue-and-gray Hoya signs, where he endured years of grueling drills and played cornerback and wide receiver. On the edge of the school’s golf course, next to the dormitories, was the gilded chapel where he and his fellow students gathered for scheduled prayer during the week and before games on Saturdays.

  At Stag Night, Kavanaugh walked in and scanned the sea of suits, blazers and khakis, taking in the steady thrum of conversation. He was noticed immediately. Those who hadn’t known Kavanaugh as a student at Georgetown Prep recognized his face from the weeks of continual news coverage. Those who had followed him more closely noted that Kavanaugh was dressed in the same type of dark suit, white shirt, and royal-blue tie he had worn to his contentious final confirmation hearing on September 27.