Brett Kavanaugh, Matt Gaetz Party Clear ‘Conflict of Interest’—Legal Expert
Kavanaugh #Kavanaugh
Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s attendance at a Christmas party hosted by Matt Schlapp, chair of the American Conservative Union, was a “clear and obvious…conflict of interest,” according to MSNBC legal analyst Jill Wine-Banks.
Brett Kavanaugh Raises Questions For Attending Party With Right-Wingers
SHARE
SHARE
TWEET
SHARE
What to watch next
Watch: Truck carrying 134-foot concrete beam demolished by train
CNN
Full Panel: Bipartisan omnibus bill a ‘rebuke of MAGA Republican talking points’
NBC News
Al Gore in 1988: I’m the candidate Republicans would ‘least like to face’
NBC News
Remnick: Trump is a shriveled, diminished figure on the political scene
MSNBC
Omnibus bill could help ‘prevent another plot to overturn an election’
NBC News
Electoral reform is ‘one of the most important things that Congress could have done’
NBC News
Mitch McConnell ‘Pulling’ For Kevin McCarthy To Become Speaker of the House
Newsweek
CNN anchor presses ex-US Border Patrol chief about Biden claim
CNN
Ginni Thomas Escaping Criminal Referral Over Jan. 6 Sparks Outrage
Newsweek
Hollywood Minute: ‘Book Club’ sequel first look
CNN
Their dog traveled with them to the US border. Then they had to leave her behind
CNN
What’s in the massive government funding bill? Some Congress members may not even know
CNN
Former Capitol Police officers react to final Jan. 6 hearing
The Washington Post
Watch: Argentina Celebrates World Cup Win With Team in Buenos Aires
The Wall Street Journal
Netflix Customers Could Go to Prison for Sharing Their Password
Newsweek
WSJ Opinion: Twitter and the FBI Censorship Subsidiary
The Wall Street Journal
Click to expand
UP NEXT
The party took place Friday at the home of Schlapp and his wife Mercedes, who worked on Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential election campaign.
Politico revealed the Supreme Court Justice, and a number of prominent pro-Trump Republicans, were guests at the event in Alexandria, Virginia.
Reacting to the news on Twitter, Wine-Banks wrote: “Clear and obvious appearance if conflict of interest. The price of serving on SCOTUS is a restricted social life.”
The event was also attended by House Representative Matt Gaetz, Trump’s former White House deputy assistant Sebastian Gorka and Stephen Miller, a close Trump ally.
Last year Miller founded the America First Legal Foundation (AFLF), which he currently heads as president.
On its website Miller described his group as an answer to the American Civil Liberties Union, which uses legal action to advance certain progressive policies.
He said the AFLF is “committed to an unwavering defense of true equality under law, national borders and sovereignty, freedom of speech and religion, classical values and virtues, the sanctity of life and centrality of family, and our timeless legal and constitutional heritage.”
Bloomberg Law notes the AFLF has an interest in a number of legal cases that the Supreme Court is expected to rule on.
Wine-Banks’ view was supported by Harvard legal scholar Laurence Tribe, who tweeted: “I’m with Jill Wine-Banks on this.
“Congress should require those attending events like this with SCOTUS Justices — which wouldn’t be impossible to define — to file public reports on their attendance and impose stiff fines on knowing failure to do so.”
Supreme Court Justices are supposed to set high ethical standards, though they aren’t bound by the same strict code as federal judges.
Ruth Marcus, the Washington Post associate editor and Harvard Law School graduate, said Kavanaugh’s action “feeds into a perception” that the Supreme Court is “an institution tainted with partisanship.”
She wrote: “The episode serves to highlight a disturbing trend among the justices, more prevalent on the right than the left: funneling their public appearances into compatible ideological silos.”
Kavanaugh isn’t the only Supreme Court Justice to attend a controversial event. In June Justice Sonia Sotomayor, widely seen as a progressive, addressed the liberal American Constitution Society.
Kavanaugh has served on the Supreme Court since October 2018, after being nominated by President Trump.
Trump also appointed Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett to the court.
Last month the Supreme Court approved the handing of Trump tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee, which has spent three years investigating whether he fully complied with auditing by the Internal Revenue Service.
In June the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark legal case that ensured abortion access across the U.S. for nearly 50 years.
Newsweek has contacted Justice Kavanaugh for comment.
Related Articles
Start your unlimited Newsweek trial