Kavanaugh takes seat on court

Justices hear three firearms-related cases

WASHINGTON — Three days after the fierce battle over his nomination ended in his elevation to the Supreme Court, Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined his new colleagues on the bench for the first time Tuesday morning, taking a seat on the far right side of the bench, in the spot reserved for the most junior justice.

The rancor that had consumed the Capitol, just across the street, before his confirmation vote last week had dulled to a polite hush as spectators gathered in the courtroom midmorning. The arguments concluded without any protests, a contrast with the outbursts that disrupted Kavanaugh’s testimony about sexual assault allegations against him and the Senate vote on his elevation to the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice John Roberts started the day by welcoming his new colleague.

“Justice Kavanaugh,” the chief justice said, “we wish you a long and happy career in our common calling.”

The court heard two hours of arguments in three cases, all concerning a complicated and ambiguous federal law that has long vexed the justices.

Kavanaugh often asked how particular precedents applied to the cases before the court.

The law under consideration in Tuesday’s arguments, the Armed Career Criminal Act, requires stiffer sentences for people convicted of possessing firearms in federal court if they have earlier been found guilty of three violent felonies or serious drug charges.

The first case, Stokeling v. United States, No. 17-5554, concerned a part of the law that defined violent felonies to include any offenses involving the use or threat of physical force. The question in the case is whether minimal force, as in a purse snatching, is enough.

The court also considered another part of the same law in two other cases. The law says burglaries are violent felonies that can require longer sentences. But it does not specify what qualifies as a burglary.