Trump picks Kavanaugh

Setting up a fight: The confirmation battle is likely to be ferocious as Democrats aim to stop the high court’s shift to the right for years to come. The nominee: Politically connected conservative judge, former clerk to Justice Kennedy, is a favorite in

WASHINGTON» Judge Brett Kavanaugh is the embodiment of the Republican legal establishment: an Ivy Leaguer who worked for the justice he has been nominated to replace, investigated a Democratic president, served in a Republican White House and now is an influential member of what is often called the second most powerful court in the country.

The 53-year-old Kavanaugh was even born inside the Beltway and has lived there virtually his entire life.

“He can still recite the section and seat numbers of the upper deck seats his dad had at RFK (Stadium) for the Redskins,” said Travis Lenkner, a former Kavanaugh law clerk, of the Washington Redksins’ home field until 1997.

President Donald Trump said Monday that he is nominating Kavanaugh to replace the retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. If confirmed, Kavanaugh is likely to be a reliable conservative vote who could weaken or imperil abortion rights, beef up support on the court for capital punishment and clamp down on the power of regulatory agencies.

He is expected to face strong opposition from Democrats, who already have called Kavanaugh and the other court finalists too conservative. They are hoping to persuade Republican Senate moderates to vote against Kavanaugh.

Some Republicans, certain to support Kavanaugh, had hoped Trump would choose someone seen as a stronger social conservative.

The nominee is an only child who credits his mother for his career path. Martha Kavanaugh taught high school history before returning to school for her law degree. She later became a prosecutor and a judge in Maryland. “My introduction to the law came at our dinner table when she practiced her closing arguments,” Kavanaugh said at the White House after Trump introduced him as his nominee.

He is the father of two girls and coaches their basketball teams. Like Kavanaugh, his wife, Ashley, is a veteran of the White House during George W. Bush’s presidency. Their first date was the night before the Sept. 11 attacks, he said. She now serves as the town manager of their village in a Maryland suburb just north of the capital.