When Justice Anthony Kennedy declared his resignation from the Supreme Court on Wednesday, June 27, President Donald Trump moved quickly to seize his second opportunity to place his chosen justice on the highest court of the United States. After a week of deliberation and decision-making based on a pre-compiled list of possible justice choices, Trump announced his nominee on Monday, July 9 – Brett Kavanaugh. 

The 53-year-old judge has been a member of the DC legal sphere for decades. Born in Bethesda, Maryland, he completed his undergraduate degree and J.D. at Yale University. After finishing his legal studies, Kavanaugh worked for former Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, who led the investigation that resulted in President Bill Clinton’s impeachment in 1998. Kavanaugh was later employed as an aide to President George W. Bush. Since then, he has served on the DC Circuit Court (widely considered to be one of the most important circuits in the country, beneath SCOTUS) since appointment in 2006 and generated many opinions on Supreme Court decisions concerning abortion, authority of the executive branch, religious liberties, and other topics of national concern. A father of two, he has also been involved in his Washington community – serving meals with Catholic Charities and coaching youth basketball. Republicans paint Kavanaugh as a values-driven family man with a reputation for fairness, judicial restraint, and close reading of relevant statutes.

Before being nominated to the Supreme Court, Kavanaugh’s past opinions and comments on court rulings demonstrated a consistent originalist viewpoint—conservatives contend that he could be a pivotal figure in upholding originalist views and decisions in cases brought to the Court, working to swing the highest court further to the conservative right for the foreseeable future.

Since January 20, 2017, the Trump administration has been plagued by the Special Counsel’s Russia probe. An important Democratic talking point during Kavanaugh’s confirmation process has been the nominee’s seemingly broad view of executive power: in a 2009 Minnesota Law Review article, Kavanaugh stated that Congress might consider a law that would exempt the president from criminal prosecution and questioning while in office. Many see this as contradicting his past definitions of executive branch authority as part of Kenneth Starr’s independent counsel investigation. Nonetheless, his newest stance on the criminal prosecution of a president could potentially aid Trump should Mueller’s probe result in criminal charges being brought against the President.

In both his personal and judicial life, Kavanaugh holds the conservative line as a strong  anti-abortion advocate. After the DC Circuit Court ruled, last October, that an undocumented immigrant was entitled to an abortion, Kavanaugh wrote a strong dissent stating that the government should favor fetal life and refrain from facilitating abortion. He went on to say that this was “a new right for unlawful immigrant minors in US government detention to obtain immediate abortion on demand.” This opinion is certainly likely to draw conservative support while attracting criticism from pro-choice groups and Democrats on the Hill.

Another issue conservatives have championed has been the promotion of “religious liberties”, something many feel Kavanaugh will support if confirmed to the Supreme Court. After a case, Priests for Life v. HHS, which challenged the Affordable Care Act on the grounds that the “contraceptive mandate” violated religious freedoms, Kavanaugh wrote an opinion contending that that the mandate put an unconstitutional burden on religious organizations because it “requires the organization to take an action contrary to their sincere religious beliefs.” However, he has also drawn some conservative criticism because he later stated that the government has an interest in ensuring that the employees of these religious organizations have access to contraception.

Whether or not Kavanaugh gets confirmed to the Court, Justice Kennedy’s resignation placed the Trump administration in a position of power, with the ability to shape the Supreme Court for a generation. Kavanaugh’s hearing began with fireworks on Tuesday, September 4; the confirmation process will certainly prove to be a controversial and pivotal moment for the nation.