not pick Kavanaugh. “McConnell Tries to Nudge Trump Toward Two Supreme Court Options,” was the headline of the article about McConnell’s strong preference for Kethledge or Hardiman, either of whom he thought would have a better chance of getting through the Senate. He’d cited the “millions” of pages of documents the Senate Judiciary Committee would have to sift through if Kavanaugh were the nominee.28
White House advisors did not think paperwork was a deal-breaker, but Kavanaugh’s team knew that McConnell’s concern was not a good sign. His former clerks countered that the paperwork was actually a strength, showing he had a record and had been involved in public service. People should not be penalized for working to advance conservative principles.
But then other articles appeared suggesting his front-runner status was in peril. The New York Times was playing up his closeness to the Bushes and reporting that his critics were passing around a photo of Bush’s political guru Karl Rove with his arm around Kavanaugh.29 He had always known that his Bush ties could be a problem, but it was a problem that was out of his control.
Time magazine reported that “Kavanaugh had been considered a frontrunner, but his fortunes may be torpedoed by Trump’s grudges,” again citing Kavanaugh’s closeness to the Bush dynasty. The article ended ominously: “White House Counsel Don McGahn, a Kavanaugh booster, has largely stopped making the case for his friend, sources say.”30
Saturday night, July 7, was a dark moment for the Kavanaugh team. It appeared that McConnell was opposed, McGahn had lost faith, and Trump was desperate to find another candidate. Gathered in the hot conference room, empty pizza boxes piled high, the team started coming to terms with their likely loss. Roman Martinez told stories about his time working for the U.S. government in postwar Iraq, finding parallels with the high-stakes political fights there. Later that night, Kavanaugh sent them an email encouraging them to act with dignity and remain calm no matter how the process ended, a sure sign that no one thought he would win the nomination.
But they had to keep working. The White House was constantly asking for information, including lists of people who would be invited to a nomination announcement if Kavanaugh were selected. They had to prepare a speech for that event, however unlikely it now seemed, and Kavanaugh, who had taught a class at Harvard on the Supreme Court, knew it would be important. It would be his only chance to make a first impression on most of the country. And it would be his only public remarks before the confirmation hearings eight weeks later, an interval when the opposition could be counted on to raise a deafening howl. Chris Michel, a former Bush speechwriter who had also clerked for Kavanaugh, was helping with the speech. The judge himself was an experienced wordsmith, having worked on presidential speeches from the State of the Union on down, but his first draft clocked in at thirty-seven minutes, far longer than the five minutes that would be appropriate. “We’ve got to go long before we can go short,” he joked.
Sunday arrived, and Trump called Leo again asking for his thoughts on Kavanaugh. Leo suggested that he meet with Kavanaugh again if he was so uncertain.
Kavanaugh, a regular churchgoer, served as a lector at Blessed Sacrament parish in Chevy Chase every eight weeks. As Providence would have it, his turn was up again, and he was struck by the passage he would read that evening. It was from St. Paul’s Second Epistle to the Corinthians:
Therefore, that I might not become too elated, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me. Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.31
He thought the reading was so comforting that he shared it with his clerks. As affecting as he found the apostle’s words at that stressful moment, he could little imagine how apropos they would be in the coming months.
On his way to church for the 5:30 Mass, Kavanaugh got a call asking if he