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Revision as of 00:48, 26 February 2006

Brett Kavanaugh is the current Staff Secretary in the Executive Office of the President of the United States. He has been nominated by President G.W. Bush to be a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. His nomination has so far been stalled in the Senate by Democrats.

Brett was renominated by President George W. Bush to serve on the D.C. Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals in January of 2006.

As Associate Independent Counsel

Brett Kavanaugh replaced assistant U.S. Attorney Miquel Rodriguez as the lead investigator of the death of President Bill Clinton's Deputy White House Counsel, Vincent Foster, for Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr. In that capacity, Kavanaugh would have been the primary author of Starr's Report on Foster's death.

Federal judges David Sentelle, John Butzner, and Peter Fay, on the Special Division of the U.S. Court of Appeals, attached a letter from John Clarke, the lawyer for a dissenting witness, Patrick Knowlton, as an appendix to Starr’s Report on Foster’s death. The letter, attached over Starr’s objection, included evidence of alleged "witness intimidation" by the FBI, a bullet wound in Foster’s neck, the absence of Foster’s car from the body-discovery scene, and other things suggesting that Foster might have been murdered. Starr’s Report on Foster, including the appendix, was made public by these judges on October 10, 1997.

As Associate Independent Counsel, Kavanaugh had access to all of the Foster death investigative records, FBI interview reports, the autopsy, crime scene photographs, etc. He also had subpoena power and was in charge of the grand jury investigation. Kavanaugh, along with John Bates, according to the witness, Patrick Knowlton, had full knowledge of the alleged intimidation of witnesses, including Knowlton's own alleged intimidation. Bates currently serves as a federal judge in the District of Columbia, having been appointed by President George W. Bush.

In the following passage, Knowlton, intimating that an attempt was made to discredit him by painting him as a "cruising" homosexual, describes what happened when he was called to testify before the Whitewater grand jury:

John Bates who was seated behind me leaned forward and passed a note to Brett Kavanaugh, from which Kavanaugh read the following questions, He said, "Mr. Knowlton did the man in the park talk to you?" And I replied, "no." He asked me, "Did the man in the park pass you a note?" And I replied, "no." He said, "Did the man approach you?" And I replied, "no." "Did the man in the park point a gun at you?" I replied, "no." And lastly Kavanaugh asked me, "Did the man in the park touch your genitals?" I looked at him and I was in shock. I was dumbfounded. I couldn't believe he asked me such a question. Of course, I replied, "no." As I left the grand jury I was puzzled why the grand jurors would ask such questions?

This account of Knowlton's grand jury testimony is disputed. The Office of Independent Counsel (OIC) has denied Knowlton's account; according to Knowlton's own attorney, the OIC stated that the grand jury transcripts contain no such question by Kavanaugh, about genitals. See footnote 4 on page 16 of the January 31, 2000 motion filed by Knowlton's attorney. Moreover, even if the OIC was incorrect about whether such a question was asked by Kavanaugh, still Knowlton's statement quoted above has Knowlton acknowledging that Kavanaugh did not formulate that particular question about genitals, but rather Knowlton asserts that Kavanaugh was merely relaying a question that the grand jury had submitted to one of Kavanaugh's OIC colleagues, John Bates (now a federal judge).

External links

• Throughout his career as an appellate lawyer, a prosecutor, and an Assistant to the President, Brett Kavanaugh has demonstrated legal excellence and the fair-minded temperament to serve as a federal appellate judge.

  * The American Bar Association (the Democrat's "gold-standard") rated Mr. Kavanaugh "Well Qualified" to serve on the DC Circuit.
  * Mr. Kavanaugh has an extraordinary range of experience in the public and private sectors that makes him uniquely qualified for the D.C. Circuit. He has dedicated the majority of his 15 years of practice to public service.
        o At present, Mr. Kavanaugh serves as Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary. In that capacity, he is responsible for coordinating all documents to and from the President. He previously served for two years as Senior Associate Counsel and Associate Counsel to the President. In that capacity, he worked on the numerous constitutional, legal, and ethical issues handled by that office.
        o Prior to his service in this Administration, Mr. Kavanaugh was a partner at the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis, where his practice focused on appellate matters.
        o Mr. Kavanaugh served as an Associate Counsel in the Office of Independent Counsel, where he handled a number of the novel constitutional and legal issues presented during that investigation.
  * Mr. Kavanaugh specialized in appellate law and has extensive experience in the federal appellate courts, both as a law clerk and as counsel.
        o Mr. Kavanaugh clerked for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, as well as Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit and Judge Walter Stapleton of the Third Circuit.
        o Prior to his Supreme Court clerkship, Mr. Kavanaugh earned a prestigious one- year fellowship in the Office of the Solicitor General of the United States. The Solicitor General's office represents the United States before the Supreme Court.
        o Mr. Kavanaugh has argued both civil and criminal matters before the Supreme Court and appellate courts throughout the country.
  * Mr. Kavanaugh has impeccable academic credentials. He received his B.A. from Yale College and his law degree from Yale Law School, where he served as Notes Editor of the Yale Law Journal.
  * In addition to devoting most of his career to public service, Mr. Kavanaugh regularly offers his legal expertise and personal time to serving his community.
        o While in private practice, Mr. Kavanaugh took on pro bono matters, including representation of the Adat Shalom congregation in Montgomery County, Maryland against the attempt to stop construction of a synagogue in the county.
        o Mr. Kavanaugh represented, on a pro bono basis, six-year-old Elian Gonzalez after the Immigration and Naturalization Service decided to return him to Cuba.
  * People from across the political spectrum support Mr. Kavanaugh's nomination to the D.C. Circuit and have expressed their admiration for his professional acumen and his personal integrity and fairness.
        o Judge Walter Stapleton said of Mr. Kavanaugh, "He really is a superstar. He is a rare match of talent and personality."
        o William P. Barr, former Attorney General of the United States and current Vice President and General Counsel of Verizon wrote, "Brett quickly established himself as one of the key outside lawyers I went to on some of my toughest legal issues. He has a keen intellect, exceptional analytical skills, and sound judgment. His writing is fluid and precise. I found that he was able to see all sides of an issue and appreciate the strengths and weakness of competing approaches. He was particularly effective in dealing with novel issues which required some original thinking. ... In addition to his powerful legal skills, I can say unequivocally that he possesses precisely the temperament we seek in our federal judges. He has a profound sense of humility and the intellectual curiosity and honest to explore and consider contending positions. He is patient and highly considerate of others. Above all, he is blessed with a delightful sense of humor."
        o Professor Robert M. Chesney from Wake Forest University School of Law wrote, "I have come to learn that  is an immensely bright lawyer who combines intellect and experience with a tremendous work ethic. Equally significant, moreover, through all of my conversations with him on a wide variety of subjects I have found him to be a very reasonable and open-minded thinker. He is not an ideologue; on the contrary, he is intellectually open and moderate. It may be a cliché, but it is fair to say that he has a judicial temperament. Because he combines these essential judicial qualities – intelligence, experience, diligence, and open-mindedness – I whole-heartedly support his nomination."
        o According to Mark H. Tuohey III, former President of the District of Columbia Bar, " is exceptionally well qualified to serve on one of the nation's most important appellate courts, as he possesses keen intellectual prowess, superior analytical skills and a strong commitment to applying the role of law in a fair and impartial manner. As well, Mr. Kavanaugh's interpersonal skills will enable him to become a strong collegial member of a court where personal 

External links

• White House Bio
• Report On the death of Vincent W. Foster, Jr., by the Office of Independent Counsel in Re: Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan Association. Available from the government printing office as document number 028-004-00095-8, 137 pages, $14.
• Failure of the Public Trust
• Accuracy In Media
• Brett Kavanaugh Resume (USDOJ)

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