Kavanaugh slid into debt over baseball tickets, loan

White House says nominee now only has a mortgage

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 said 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.

In 2016, Kavanaugh reported having $60,000 to $200,000 in debt accrued over three credit cards and a loan. Each credit card held $15,000 to $50,000 in debt, and a Thrift Savings Plan loan was $15,000 to $50,000.

The credit card debts and loan were either paid off or fell below the reporting requirements in 2017, according to the filings, which do not require details on the source of such payments. Shah said Kavanaugh’s friends reimbursed him for their share of the tickets and that the judge has since stopped purchasing season tickets.

Kavanaugh, who is known to be a Nationals fan, declined to comment.

Shah said the payments for the tickets were made at the end of 2016 and paid off early the next year.

Kavanaugh’s most recent financial disclosure forms reveal reportable assets of $15,000 to $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, and Shah added that Kavanaugh has a government retirement account worth nearly $500,000 that also was not required to be disclosed.

“At this time the Kavanaughs have no debt beyond their home mortgage,” Shah said.

Kavanaugh has worked more than two decades in the public sector.

Prices for Nationals season ticket packages vary. 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.

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 has 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.

The Kavanaughs, who live in Chevy Chase, Md., send their two daughters to the Catholic private school of Blessed Sacrament, where tuition costs $10,025 per child.