Here Comes Another Bush Judge

by Mike Hall, May 26, 2006

Another of President George W. Bush’s troubling judicial nominees will take a seat on an important federal court now that the U.S. Senate has confirmed Brett Kavanaugh for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. 

Kavanaugh has never served as a judge at any level and has less legal experience than nearly any nominee to the important District of Columbia Circuit in more than 30 years. But he does have something going for him: political connections.

Kavanaugh is known for his work as a top deputy to Whitewater Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, for whom Kavanaugh drafted key portions of the Starr report on grounds to impeach President Bill Clinton. Kavanaugh also was a key person in the White House counsel’s office responsible for identifying and pushing through Bush’s most extreme judicial nominees.

The court on which he’ll serve decides cases that have major impact on working families. The D.C. Circuit is the administrative law court. It is the court that most closely oversees the actions of federal agencies that are responsible for worker protections, environmental protections, consumer safeguards, civil rights protections and much more. And because the Supreme Court grants review of so few lower court decisions, the D.C. Circuit is often the final word on the legality of federal agency actions.

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