SUPREME COURT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “There is little doubt the Supreme Court will extend its turn to the right if Judge Brett Kavanaugh joins the bench this fall. But Judge Kavanaugh’s connection with nearly every justice, and his reputation as a straight-shooter even among those who disagree with him, suggests he would make the ride as smooth as possible. The court’s last term saw it swerve between far-reaching 5-4 decisions that overruled precedent and cases that fizzled out with procedural rulings. The next justice’s demeanor could calm an institution no longer entirely immune to the discord that now defines Washington…This time, there won’t simply be a change in personality, but in the court’s ideological cast if Judge Kavanaugh, a down-the-line conservative, succeeds Justice Anthony Kennedy, a Ronald Reagan appointee who found accommodation with liberals in decisions expanding gay rights, maintaining access to abortion, and limiting capital punishment. Over 12 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Judge Kavanaugh has built ‘a very good reputation for working with people across ideological lines,’ Mr. Epps says, and the clerks he has sent to the Supreme Court have been hired by justices of every ideological bent.”
-Jess Bravin and Brent Kendall, “Kavanaugh’s Collegial Nature Could Change Supreme Court’s Tenor,” The Wall Street Journal, July 16, 2018 4:48 pm