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
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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.
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