harder than Kavanaugh himself, who was famous for his diligence.25 The round-the-clock news cycle meant late hours. Stories would break late into the evening, requiring a rapid response no matter the time. The judge was in his chambers past midnight most nights, country music playing on the radio, the influence, perhaps, of his Texan wife. Ashley tended to think that what was meant to happen would happen. He, by contrast, believed that if you prepared enough, you could be ready for anything. The decision of whom to nominate to the Supreme Court was not his to make, but he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he were not chosen because he had failed to prepare. The longtime athlete believed in leaving everything on the field. So he reread his opinions and pored over his record, thinking about how to talk about them. He described and evaluated his judicial philosophy, winnowing down volumes of work into talking points he could use in meetings.
The Constitution gives the president the power to appoint Supreme Court justices, subject to the advice and consent of the Senate. The advice of senators was solicited early. The list of potential nominees had been public prior to Kennedy’s retirement, of course, and the White House sought the views of five moderate senators—the Republicans Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and the Democrats Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, and Joe Manchin of West Virginia—each of whom could have a decisive vote.
Collins was on the floor of the Senate the day after Kennedy’s retirement when she got the email inviting her to the White House to discuss the nomination. She told Murkowski, who had also just received an invitation. They decided to combine their appointments, which were back to back. Collins told the president she hoped he would nominate a judge with intelligence, integrity, and experience and noted her concerns about adherence to precedent and the separation of powers. They did not discuss particular candidates as much as the desired judicial philosophy. Collins encouraged the president to not feel limited to his initial list, though she was pleased when she learned he had refreshed it. As the two Republican women were departing, Senator Manchin arrived to discuss his views with the president and McGahn.
Senator Mitch McConnell, who saw judicial appointments as an important part of his legacy, was ecstatic at the opportunity to confirm another Supreme Court appointment. An open supporter of Thapar, a fellow Kentuckian whom he had first brought to Trump’s attention, he expressed serious concern about the volume of paperwork a Kavanaugh nomination would produce. Besides the papers from his time on the Whitewater independent counsel’s staff and in the White House counsel’s office, there was his tenure as the White House staff secretary, when every piece of paper in the White House crossed his desk.
The staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee shared McConnell’s concern and discussed it with reporters. An article on the Daily Caller, citing Senate aides, reported that the prospect of Kavanaugh’s nomination had “some influential conservatives cringing behind the scenes. . . . ‘The White House Counsel’s Office is reeling today on Kavanaugh,’ says one GOP judicial insider with direct knowledge of the selection process. ‘Kavanaugh is crashing and burning today. I cannot figure out how this happened in one day.’ ” Quoting an unnamed “senior administration official” who called Kavanaugh the “low-energy Jeb Bush pick” and an “influential Hill staffer” who called him “John Roberts incarnate,” the article emphasized Kavanaugh’s ties to the Bush administration and to McGahn.26 It also included a leak of confidential information about how many millions of records would have to be processed. Kavanaugh’s team had hoped to avoid such “process” stories and to keep the focus on qualifications. They quickly determined that the leaker was a key aide on the Senate Judiciary Committee who supported Kethledge.
These were trying days for Ashley Kavanaugh. She had met her husband in 2001, when they both worked in the White House. Having begun her service to George W. Bush as a personal secretary when she was still a student at the University of Texas and he was governor, she came to the White House after working on his presidential campaign. She was from Abilene, a couple of hours from Midland, where Bush had grown up. A warm and welcoming woman with a kind smile and an easy laugh, Ashley Estes was beloved by her colleagues. She was encouraging, optimistic, determined, and, importantly, tough.