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Brett Kavanaugh Is Trump’s Pick for Supreme Court

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Trump Picks Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court

President Trump selected Judge Kavanaugh to replace Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who is set to retire. If confirmed, Judge Kavanaugh would cement a conservative hold on the court.

“Tonight, it is my honor and privilege to announce that I will nominate Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court.” “Mr. President, thank you. Throughout this process, I have witnessed firsthand your appreciation for the vital role of the American judiciary. No president has ever consulted more widely or talked with more people from more backgrounds to seek input about a Supreme Court nomination. Mr. President, I am grateful to you. And I’m humbled by your confidence in me. Thank you. Thirty years ago, President Reagan nominated Anthony Kennedy to the Supreme Court. The framers established that the Constitution is designed to secure the blessings of liberty. Justice Kennedy devoted his career to securing liberty. I am deeply honored to be nominated to fill his seat on the Supreme Court. My mom was a teacher. In the 1960s and ‘70s she taught history at two largely African-American public high schools in Washington D.C., McKinley Tech and H.D. Woodson. Her example taught me the importance of equality for all Americans. My mom was a trailblazer. When I was 10, she went to law school and became a prosecutor. My introduction to law came at our dinner table when she practiced her closing arguments. Her trademark line was, ‘Use your common sense. What rings true? What rings false?’ That’s good advice for a juror and for a son. My wife, Ashley, is a West Texan, a graduate of Abilene Cooper Public High School and the University of Texas. She is now the town manager of our community. We met in 2001 when we both worked in the White House. Our first date was on September 10th, 2001. The next morning I was a few steps behind her as the Secret Service shouted at all of us to sprint out the front gates of the White House because there was an inbound plane. In the difficult weeks that followed, Ashley was a source of strength for President Bush and for everyone in this building. Through bad days, and so many better days since then, she has been a great wife, an inspiring mom. I thank God everyday for my family. Tomorrow I begin meeting with members of the Senate, which plays an essential role in this process. I will tell each senator that I revere the Constitution. I believe that an independent judiciary is the crown jewel of our constitutional republic. If confirmed by the Senate, I will keep an open mind in every case. And I will always strive to preserve the Constitution of the United States and the American rule of law. Thank you, Mr. President.”

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President Trump selected Judge Kavanaugh to replace Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who is set to retire. If confirmed, Judge Kavanaugh would cement a conservative hold on the court.CreditCredit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Monday nominated Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, a politically connected member of Washington’s conservative legal establishment, to fill Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s seat on the Supreme Court, setting up an epic confirmation battle and potentially cementing the court’s rightward tilt for a generation.

Presenting Judge Kavanaugh at the White House, Mr. Trump described him as “one of the finest and sharpest legal minds in our time,” and declared him a jurist who would set aside his political views and apply the Constitution “as written.”

The nomination of Judge Kavanaugh, 53, a federal appeals court judge, former aide to President George W. Bush and onetime investigator of President Bill Clinton, was not a huge surprise, given his conservative record, elite credentials and deep ties among the Republican legal groups that have advanced conservatives for the federal bench.

But his selection will galvanize Democrats and Republicans in the months before the midterm elections. Moments after the announcement, the Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, declared, “I will oppose Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination with everything I have.” Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who leads the barest of Republican majorities, had expressed misgivings about his path to confirmation, but said he was a “superb choice.”

Justice Kennedy, who is retiring, held the swing vote in many closely divided cases on issues like abortion, affirmative action, gay rights and the death penalty. Replacing him with a committed conservative, who could potentially serve for decades, will fundamentally alter the balance of the court and put dozens of precedents at risk.

Judge Kavanaugh’s long history of legal opinions, as well as his role in some of the fiercest partisan battles of the last two decades, will give Democrats plenty of ammunition for tough questions. Nearly 20 years ago, working for the independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr, he laid out broad grounds to impeach Mr. Clinton — words that Democrats can now seize on to apply to Mr. Trump and the Russia investigation.

In choosing Judge Kavanaugh, the president opted for a battle-scarred veteran of Republican politics but also someone with close ties to the Bush family — a history that aides to Mr. Trump said he viewed as a strike against him and had to overcome.

Before serving Mr. Bush in the White House, Judge Kavanaugh worked for him in the 2000 presidential vote recount in Florida. When Mr. Bush nominated him in 2003 to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Democrats complained that he was too partisan. He survived a contentious confirmation hearing and was confirmed in 2006.

In his remarks, Judge Kavanaugh, who once clerked for Justice Kennedy, said he would “keep an open mind in every case.” But he declared that judges “must interpret the law, not make the law.”

Democrats are still bitter that Republicans blocked President Barack Obama’s nomination of Judge Merrick B. Garland to fill the last Supreme Court vacancy, created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016. Republicans denied Judge Garland a hearing, arguing that the right to name a justice ought to be left to Mr. Obama’s successor.

Mr. Trump chose Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, who has voted much as Justice Scalia had, leaving the court’s ideological dynamic basically intact. Replacing Justice Kennedy will be far more consequential, almost certainly thrusting Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., whose voting record has been more conservative than that of Justice Kennedy, into the crucial median position on the court.

For Mr. Trump, whose presidency has been marked by personnel upheaval, an uneven legislative record and persistent questions over his ties to Russia, the nomination offers a chance for a clear victory — one that would leave a lasting imprint on one of the nation’s most cherished institutions. It also fulfills, for a second time, Mr. Trump’s promise to his political base to name conservative judges in the mold of Justice Scalia.

As he did in choosing Justice Gorsuch, Mr. Trump turned the selection process into a kind of Supreme Court sweepstakes, conducting a parade of interviews, promising a blockbuster choice and stretching out his decision-making over a weekend at his golf club in New Jersey before the prime-time appearance at the White House.

Mr. Trump did not make a final decision until the last 24 hours, but he began logistical preparations for Judge Kavanaugh’s appointment earlier in the weekend, according to a person familiar with the planning.

The president extracted a last bit of suspense from the process, appearing alone at the podium in the East Room to pay tribute to Justice Kennedy and the widow of Justice Scalia, Maureen, before announcing Judge Kavanaugh, who entered from a side door with his wife, Ashley, and daughters, Margaret and Liza.

But there was less underlying drama than Mr. Trump’s theatrical approach suggested. As he did last time, the president chose from a list of two dozen candidates, carefully curated for him by the Federalist Society, which functions as a pipeline to supply conservatives to the federal bench.

Mr. Trump narrowed the list to four finalists: In addition to Judge Kavanaugh, there were Judges Thomas M. Hardiman, Raymond M. Kethledge and Amy Coney Barrett. All four are white, middle-age conservative federal appeals court judges. Three are Catholic; only Judge Kethledge is not.

While there are ideological differences among them — Judge Barrett is an outspoken social conservative, while Judges Kavanaugh, Kethledge and Hardiman are viewed more as pro-business, law-and-order judges — all four have compiled uniformly conservative records.

One of the things that set Judge Kavanaugh apart, aides to Mr. Trump said, was his Ivy League pedigree: He is a graduate of Yale and Yale Law School. He also impressed Mr. Trump during his interview, and was enthusiastically backed by the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II.

For Democrats, the nomination sets up a political battle they are likely to lose. While Republicans hold a razor-thin margin in the Senate — Senator John McCain’s absence because of his brain cancer reduces it to 50 seats — a handful of Democrats might vote for the nominee, particularly those running for re-election in states where Mr. Trump won in 2016 and is still popular.

Among Democrats facing that dilemma: Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Joe Manchin III of West Virginia. All three voted to confirm Justice Gorsuch. Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat who is also up for re-election, made his intention to reject Mr. Trump’s choice clear hours before he even announced it.

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The appointment could potentially cement the Supreme Court’s rightward tilt for a generation.Credit...Al Drago for The New York Times

“I will oppose the nomination the president will make tonight because it represents a corrupt bargain with the far right, big corporations and Washington special interests,” Mr. Casey said in a statement.

However slim his odds of success, Mr. Schumer framed the confirmation battle as a referendum on the issues most important to Democratic voters, notably health care.

“Enormously important issues hang in the balance,” he said in the Senate before the announcement. “The right of workers to organize, the pernicious influence of dark money in our policy, the right of Americans to marry whom they love, the right to vote.”

Republicans hope the appointment will mobilize their voters as well. But the choice of Judge Kavanaugh is perhaps the most challenging of the four finalists, with lawmakers warning that his voluminous record could prolong the confirmation process, even past the November election.

Mr. McConnell told the president that Judges Hardiman or Kethledge would have an easier path to confirmation. He worried about his independent-minded Kentucky colleague, Senator Rand Paul, who has bitterly criticized the foreign policy of the Bush administration and might use that as grounds to hold up Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination.

But Mr. McConnell’s warning may have actually backfired, two people close to the president said, pushing Mr. Trump toward Judge Kavanaugh.

Though Mr. Trump was bothered by Judge Kavanaugh’s connection to Mr. Bush, according to people who spoke with him, he was able to get over it, in part because he believed that Judge Kavanaugh would embody the tradition of Justice Kennedy.

Judge Kavanaugh was also not the first choice of many anti-abortion and conservative religious leaders, but they quickly praised his selection, sensing they may be closer than ever to overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion.

“It is simply good news,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of the anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony List. “What will really matter is whether abortion law will change or not.”

Judge Kavanaugh played up his credentials as a family man on Monday, mentioning that he coached basketball for his daughters. He spoke of the influence his mother had on him, noting that she was a teacher turned lawyer and later judge in his native Maryland, who practiced her closing arguments at the family dinner table.

The White House will roll out an intensive campaign to sell the nominee to the Senate and the American public. Judge Kavanaugh will embark on a busy schedule of courtesy calls to key members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and other senators. The White House named Jon Kyl, a Republican former senator from Arizona, to help shepherd the nominee during his confirmation hearing. Mr. Kyl, the White House noted, served on the Senate Judiciary Committee during the confirmations of four of the last five Supreme Court justices.

Mr. Trump will also play a prominent role in promoting the credentials of Judge Kavanaugh, though his task will be complicated by the fact that he leaves on Tuesday for a weeklong trip to Europe for a North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit meeting and one-on-one meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

Mark Landler reported from Washington, and Maggie Haberman from New York. Elizabeth Dias contributed reporting from Washington.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: Former Bush Aide Is Trump Pick For Court. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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