Kavanaugh piled up debt for baseball
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh incurred tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt buying baseball tickets and at times reported liabilities that could have exceeded the value of his assets, the White House confirms.
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh incurred tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt buying baseball tickets over the past decade and at times reported liabilities that could have exceeded the value of his cash accounts and investment assets, according to a review of Kavanaugh’s financial disclosures and information provided by the White House.
White House spokesman Raj Shah told the Washington Post that Kavanaugh built up the debt by buying Washington Nationals season tickets and tickets for playoff games for himself and a “handful” of friends. Shah said some of the debts were also for home improvements.
Kavanaugh’s most recent financial disclosure forms reveal assets between $15,000 and $65,000, which would put him at the bottom of the financial ranking of justices, most of whom list well over $1 million in assets. The value of residences is not subject to disclosure.
Unlike some of the other justices, Kavanaugh has worked more than two decades in the public sector and has not built wealth as a private lawyer.
“Judge Kavanaugh is a brilliant jurist who has dedicated his life to public service,” Shah said.
In 2016, Kavanaugh reported having between $60,000 and $200,000 in debt accrued over three credit cards and a personal loan. Each credit card held between $15,000 and $50,000 in debt, and a Thrift Savings Plan loan was between $15,000 and $50,000.
The credit card debts and loan were paid off in 2017, according to the filings, which do not require details on the nature or source of such payments. Shah told the Post that Kavanaugh’s friends reimbursed him for their share of the baseball tickets and that the judge has since stopped purchasing the season tickets.
Shah did not provide the names of the friends or additional details about the tickets. Kavanaugh, who is known to be a Nationals fan, did not respond to a request for comment.
Prices for Nationals season ticket packages can vary widely, depending on their location in the stadium. Seats a dozen rows behind the dugout in the lower area of the stadium can go for as much as $6,000 apiece for an 81-game season package.
Gleaning financial information from public disclosure forms has limitations. For instance, judges do not report primary residences — meaning that estimates of net worth can be significantly undervalued.
Federal law requires only broad ranges for disclosure forms, and such filings include assets for spouses, so it is difficult to pinpoint an exact financial snapshot for an individual.
But for Kavanaugh, the differences are stark between his finances and those of his would-be peers on the Court. He lists just two kinds of assets — unspecified accounts held with Bank of America and his wife’s retirement fund from employment in Texas — between $15,000 to $65,000.
His public filing does not include his home, which he purchased with his wife, Ashley, in 2006 for $1.2 million. Public real estate filings indicate that the couple have refinanced their mortgage twice, most recently in 2015. Their current mortgage is $865,000.
His past financial disclosure forms reveal that Kavanaugh has carried significant credit card debt — on and off — for more than a decade. He reported between $60,000 to $200,000 in debt among three credit cards and a loan in 2006, the same year he was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Without including homes, Kavanaugh would rank at the bottom of disclosed assets among the justices by a considerable margin, according to a review of 2017 disclosures listed on Fix the Court, a website dedicated to greater transparency in the judiciary branch.