For Kavanaugh, baseball tickets have mounted up

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.

In 2016, Kavanaugh reported having between $60,000 and $200,000 in debt accrued over three credit cards and a 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 either paid off or fell below the reporting requirements in 2017, according to the filings, which do not require details on the nature or source of such payments.

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.

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 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 Kavanaugh million in assets.

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

He said Kavanaugh has assets of nearly $1 million between the equity in his home and his retirement account.

For Kavanaugh, the differences are stark between his finances and those of his would-be peers on the court — he has not built wealth as a private lawyer has worked more than two decades in the public sector.

He lists just two kinds of assets — unspecified accounts held with Bank of America and his wife’s retirement fund from employment in Texas - totaling between $15,000 to $65,000.

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.