Brett Kavanaugh nominated by Trump for Supreme Court

CNN:  President Trump announced from the White House East Room that he is nominating Brett Kavanaugh to replace Justice Kennedy on the Supreme Court.

Kavanaugh was confirmed to his position on the Court of Appeals for DC on May 26, 2006, about 12 years ago. The 53-year-old worked in the Bush administration and also for independent counsel Kenneth Starr in the investigation that eventually led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.

Kavanaugh has a history of conservatives votes in areas concerning presidential authority, the Second Amendment and religious liberty.

However, some social conservatives — while refusing to go on the record — criticized two of his opinions: one dealing with the Affordable Care Act and a second about an undocumented pregnant teen who sought an abortion.

New York Times qualified the news as follows: 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.

AP similarly claims that he is a solidly conservative, politically connected judge, and through his nomination Trump is setting up a ferocious confirmation battle with Democrats as he seeks to shift the nation’s highest court ever further to the right.

With Kavanaugh, Trump is replacing a swing vote on the nine-member court with a staunch conservative. Kavanaugh, who serves on the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, is expected to be less receptive to abortion and gay rights than Kennedy was. He also has taken an expansive view of executive power and has favored limits on investigating the president.

As he was introducing Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump said he didn’t ask the candidates for the Supreme Court seat about their political views. “In keeping with President Reagan’s legacy, I do not ask about a nominee’s personal opinions,” Trump said. He has “impeccable credentials, unsurpassed qualifications, and a proven commitment to equal justice under the law.”

“Throughout legal circles, he is considered a judge’s judge, a true thought leader among his peers,” Trump said.

“He’s a brilliant jurist with a clear and effective writing style universally regarded as one of the finest and sharpest legal minds of our time.”