Brett Kavanaugh paid off up to $200,000 in debt last year, but the White House has an explanation


Major League Baseball is perhaps the only affordable major pro sport left in America, but Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh still managed to max out three credit cards and a Thrift Savings Plan loan buying tickets to see the Washington Nationals in 2016, the White House said Wednesday. In financial disclosure forms, Kavanaugh reported having $60,000 to $200,000 in debt in 2016, not including his $865,000 mortgage, and White House spokesman Raj Shah tells The Washington Post that President Trump's nominee went into debt buying Nats season tickets and playoff game tickets for himself and a "handful" of friends, and also on home improvements.
Kavanaugh paid off the debt in 2017, or at least enough of the debt to get it below the reporting threshold, and he has stopped buying season tickets, Shah said. The financial disclosure forms do not require that Kavanaugh disclose the source or nature of his payments, but as a federal appellate judge, Kavanaugh earns about $220,000 a year, and he made $27,000 teaching at Harvard Law School in 2017, according to the disclosures. Shah said the undisclosed number of unidentified friends paid Kavanaugh back for their share of the tickets. Kavanaugh has a habit of going into debt, presumably to watch baseball, and also reported $60,000 to $200,000 in 2006, the year he was confirmed as an appellate judge.
In all, Kavanaugh reported assets of between $15,000 and $65,000, which does not include a number of things, like his house in Chevy Chase or his federal retirement account. You can read more about Kavanaugh's assets and liabilities at The Washington Post.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
10 upcoming albums to stream on the beach this summer
The Week Recommends Ring in the sunshine with a selection of new albums
-
Sly Stone
Feature Stone, an eccentric whose songs of uplift were tempered by darker themes of struggle and disillusionment, had a fall as steep as his rise
-
Unreal: A quantum leap in AI video
Feature Google's new Veo 3 is making it harder to distinguish between real videos and AI-generated ones
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliable
speed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutiny
Speed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
-
Starbucks baristas strike over dress code
speed read The new uniform 'puts the burden on baristas' to buy new clothes, said a Starbucks Workers United union delegate
-
Warren Buffet announces surprise retirement
speed read At the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, the billionaire investor named Vice Chairman Greg Abel his replacement
-
Trump calls Amazon's Bezos over tariff display
Speed Read The president was not happy with reports that Amazon would list the added cost from tariffs alongside product prices
-
Markets notch worst quarter in years as new tariffs loom
Speed Read The S&P 500 is on track for its worst month since 2022 as investors brace for Trump's tariffs
-
Tesla Cybertrucks recalled over dislodging panels
Speed Read Almost every Cybertruck in the US has been recalled over a stainless steel panel that could fall off
-
Crafting emporium Joann is going out of business
Speed Read The 82-year-old fabric and crafts store will be closing all 800 of its stores