Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, will deliver the Law School's 129th Commencement Address on Friday, May 25, 2018.

"We are very pleased that Judge Kavanaugh will deliver the Law School's 2018 Commencement address," said Daniel F. Attridge, Dean and Knights of Columbus Professor of Law. "Judge Kavanaugh serves on the powerful D.C. Circuit, where he has written over 286 opinions on the court. He has a deep reservoir of experience, achievement, and service to draw upon in offering advice to our graduates."

Judge Kavanaugh was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on May 30, 2006, after his nomination by President George W. Bush and his confirmation by the Senate. Before his appointment to the Court, Judge Kavanaugh served for more than five years in the White House for President George W. Bush. From July 2003 until May 2006, he was Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary to the President. From 2001 to 2003, he was Associate Counsel and then Senior Associate Counsel to the President. Judge Kavanaugh was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis in Washington, D.C., from 1997 to 1998 and again from 1999 to 2001. From 1994 to 1997 and for a period in 1998, Judge Kavanaugh was Associate Counsel in the Office of Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr. In 1992-93, Judge Kavanaugh was an attorney in the Office of the Solicitor General of the United States. In the October Term 1993, Judge Kavanaugh served as a law clerk to Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge Kavanaugh previously clerked for Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in 1991-92) and for Judge Walter Stapleton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (in 1990-91). Judge Kavanaugh graduated from Yale Law School in 1990, where he was a Notes Editor of the Yale Law Journal, and from Yale College in 1987.

Since joining the Court, Judge Kavanaugh has taught courses at Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, and Georgetown University Law Center. He has been named the Samuel Williston Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School since 2009. He has published in the Yale Law Journal, the Georgetown Law Journal, the Harvard Law Review, the Notre Dame Law Review, the Minnesota Law Review, the Catholic University Law Review, the Marquette Lawyer, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and Lawfare, among other publications. Before joining the bench, Judge Kavanaugh argued cases in the Supreme Court of the United States, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the D.C. and Fifth Circuits, and other federal and state courts.

In the spring of 2015, Judge Kavanaugh delivered the Saint John XXIII Lecture at the Columbus School of Law where he spoke about the role of a judge.