I'm Elizabeth Slattery and welcome to SCOTUS 101, where we break down what's happening at the Supreme Court, what the justices are up to, and other things related to our favorite branch of government.

This is a special summer session edition of SCOTUS 101.

Since we have a Supreme Court nomination battle brewing in Washington, be sure to tune in for episodes over the course of the summer where we're going to talk about the nominee and what's happening in the Senate. Today, I'm joined by my boss and the official fact checker of SCOTUS 101, John Malcolm. It's great to be with you, Elizabeth. Yeah, John, it's great to have you back on SCOTUS 101. So let's talk about Monday night. You were at the White House for the big

announcement. What was it like? Yeah, it was tremendously exciting. So about three hours before

the announcement, I got this email saying, guess what you're invited to the White House.

And I, of course, I've been to the White House, but I hadn't been there for an event of this

kind. And it was incredibly

exciting. Everybody was happy to be there. And all of a sudden, I found myself seated in the

front row next to Maureen Scalia near Ed Meese. So I was right at the door when people would,

dignitaries would come in and I would shake their hand.

And the atmosphere was electric. Everybody there knows Brett Kavanaugh, respects Brett Kavanaugh.

It was the experience of a lifetime. Yeah, it was pretty cool just, you know, watching the TV coverage

before the nomination started. And, you know, we could all see you on TV and you were taking

pictures. You looked a little bit like a tourist. It was great. Yeah, my wife said that. She said, you know, you were taking all these pictures. You look exactly like a tourist. One, I had no idea the cameras would be on me that whole time because I was off to the side. And two, I guess I should have worn a Hawaiian shirt or something to sort of complete the ensemble. At least you weren't like, Brett, over here, let's get a selfie.

That's right, no photo bombing of the president and Brett Kavanaugh. I loved that Mrs. Scalia was there and that she got a great shout out and that Ed Meese was there and the president recognized him as well. So that was really wonderful to see. All right, let's talk about the man who is on everybody's minds, Brett Kavanaugh.

He's a D.C. judge born and bred in the D.C. area. He attended a local Jesuit high school, Georgetown Prep, where he was two years ahead of Neil Gorsuch. And then he went on to Yale College and Yale Law School. So, John, can you give us a rundown of his career from there up until when he became a judge? Sure, an incredibly impressive career.

He did two circuit court clerk, Chipsy, clerk. So, John, can you give us a rundown of his career from there up until when he became a judge? Sure, an incredibly impressive career.

He did two circuit court clerkships.

He clerked for Walter Stapleton on the third circuit and then Judge Alex Kaczynski on the Ninth Circuit.

He then had a year gap where he did a Bristol Fellowship in the Solicitor General's office at the Department of Justice under then Solicitor General Ken Starr.

He then clerked for Justice Anthony Kennedy, the man he will replace once confirmed, where his co-clerk was Neil Gorsuch.

After that was done, he rejoined Ken Starr, but this time at the Office of Independent Council, where he was involved in, he was the primary prosecutor and investigator in the Vince Foster Suicide Matter and he was one of the authors

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