The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation

by Robin Pogrebin, Kate Kelly Narrated by Robin Pogrebin, Kate Kelly

Overview

"A remarkable work of slowed-down journalism...They are doing their jobs as journalists and writing the first draft of history." -Jill Filipovic,*The Washington Post

"...Generous but also damning."**-Hanna Rosin, The New York Times

From two*New York Times*reporters, a deeper look at the formative years of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and his confirmation.

In September 2018, the F.B.I. was given only a week to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct against Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump's Supreme Court nominee. But even as Kavanaugh was sworn in to his lifetime position, many questions remained unanswered, leaving millions of Americans unsettled.

During the Senate confirmation hearings that preceded the bureau's brief probe, New York Times reporters Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly broke critical stories about Kavanaugh's past, including the "Renate Alumni" yearbook story. They were inundated with tips from former classmates, friends, and associates that couldn't be fully investigated before the confirmation process closed. Now, their book fills in the blanks and explores the essential question: Who is Brett Kavanaugh?

The Education of Brett Kavanaugh paints a picture of the prep-school and Ivy-League worlds that formed our newest Supreme Court Justice. By offering commentary from key players from his confirmation process who haven't yet spoken publicly and pursuing lines of inquiry that were left hanging, it will be essential reading for anyone who wants to understand our political system and Kavanaugh's unexpectedly emblematic role in it.

Editorial Reviews

The New York Times Book Review - Hanna Rosin

The Education of Brett Kavanaugh, by Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly…comes with an expectation of bombshells…And the authors do in fact turn up a few new revelations about the assault accusations against Kavanaugh. But their real work is to smooth out the main story, create a fuller picture of Kavanaugh himself, place him in relation to Blasey Ford and put the minor players in motion, so that the confirmation showdown has a kind of cinematic inevitability.

Publishers Weekly

09/23/2019

Journalists Pogrebin and Kelly (Street Fighters) expand on their New York Times coverage of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's 2018 confirmation hearings in this measured, methodical account. Readers who followed the hearings will be familiar with the major events: the letter sent by Stanford University research psychologist Dr. Christine Blasey Ford to California senator Dianne Feinstein accusing Kavanaugh of sexual assault in high school; the emergence of a second accuser, Deborah Ramirez, who claimed that Kavanaugh had exposed himself to her at a Yale University party in the 1980s, causing her to inadvertently touch his penis; the back-to-back testimonies delivered by Ford and Kavanaugh to the Senate judiciary committee; and Arizona senator Jeff Flake's demand that the FBI be allowed to investigate the accusations. Pogrebin and Kelly reveal that the FBI didn't investigate an eyewitness claim that Kavanaugh had exposed himself on another occasion in college (the alleged victim told friends she didn't recall the incident) and report that he may have reached out to at least one college classmate to coordinate the response to Ramirez's allegations. Pogrebin and Kelly conclude that Ford and Ramirez were "mistreated" by Kavanaugh, yet "over the next thirty-five years became a better person." Judiciously reported yet lacking in substantive analysis of the larger issues involved, this blow-by-blow chronicle feels more like a second draft of history than the definitive version. (Sept.)

From the Publisher

"At last, the deep, serious, and complete story of Brett Kavanaugh. All of us subject to the Supreme Court must read it." —Gloria Steinem

"A revision that adds to the existing story rather than fundamentally changing it."  —The Atlantic

“Pogrebin and Kelly uncovered crucial information about the hurried (or nonexistent) FBI investigations into both Blasey Ford and Ramirez’s allegations before Kavanaugh was added for life to the Supreme Court.” —The Cut

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169240771
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	09/17/2019
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

PROLOGUE
Nostos: Homecoming
 
It was cold for October, with evening temperatures dropping into the forties as alumni poured onto Georgetown Preparatory School’s leafy campus in suburban Maryland for their thirty-fifth-year high school reunion. It had been a tumultuous day for the country. A Florida man had been arrested for sending package bombs to more than a dozen prominent Democrats, including former presi­dent Barack Obama and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Despite the serious threat, President Donald Trump was focused on the upcoming midterm congressional elections and wanted his party to do the same. The “‘Bomb’ stuff,” as Trump put it in a tweet, risked slowing Republican momentum at a critical time.
 
On the Georgetown Prep campus, hundreds of former students were gathering in the George Center, a large brick building adjacent to the football stadium where the school store and snack bar were lo­cated. Nicknamed “Stag Night” because significant others were not invited, the Friday evening cocktail gathering was the traditional start to Reunion Weekend. There would be welcome speeches from school officials; wisecracks about thickening waists and thinning hair; beer and finger food.
 
The next day, about four hundred people would gather to watch the school’s football team, the Hoyas, play the homecoming game against Episcopal High School, despite the chilly, wet afternoon. During the years when it was still part of Georgetown University, Prep had at some point dubbed its teams the “Hoyas,” which derived from the Latin cheer “Hoya Saxa!” (translation: “What Rocks!”). After this par­ticular homecoming game— during which the Hoyas trounced their Episcopal High rivals, 24–6— classmates, spouses, and friends would toast over cocktails and trade stories at nearby Pinstripes, a bistro/ bowling- and- bocce venue in North Bethesda.
 
Brett Kavanaugh typically welcomed these rare opportunities to reconnect and reminisce with old friends. But this year, he had seri­ously considered opting out. Three weeks had passed since his confir­mation as the newest associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, about six since the devastating accusation that almost derailed it. So when he arrived on campus for his reunion, Kavanaugh was steeled for awkward interactions.
 
At the same time, he appeared resolutely upbeat, in keeping with his often articulated philosophy to “live on the sunrise side of the mountain.”
 
As a justice on America’s highest court, Kavanaugh now had a security detail that followed him to public places, particularly since, during the confirmation process, his wife had been targeted by vicious emails and his family had received death threats. Many of Kavanaugh’s fellow Georgetown Prep alumni had been supportive. Nearly two hun­dred had signed a letter endorsing his Supreme Court candidacy when he was nominated. Some had even gone on TV to praise his character. But given the polarizing nature of the hearings, he knew that not ev­eryone stood behind him.

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