Stephen Colbert has some fun with the idea of Brett Kavanaugh as an inveterate gambler

Stephen Colbert looks into Brett Kavanaugh and gambling

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/The Late Show)

published 13 September 2018

The Senate Judiciary Committee's hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh may be over, but senators can still submit questions in writing, and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) used that opportunity to ask Kavanaugh if he has a gambling problem. "Remember, when his nomination was announced, we learned that Kavanaugh had incurred between $60,000 and $200,000 of credit card debt," Stephen Colbert said on Wednesday's Late Show. The White House said Kavanaugh was just buying baseball tickets, but "who spends that much money on baseball tickets?" Colbert asked, suggesting that Kavanaugh might have an alternative definition for "baseball."

That's not the only clue that points to gambling, Colbert said. In an email from 2001, Kavanaugh apologized for "growing aggressive after blowing still another game of dice." "Dice?" he asked. "Who plays dice? He's gonna be our first Supreme Court justice from the cast of Guys and Dolls." Colbert sang a bit of a modified version of "Luck Be A Lady" that creatively rhymed "roll back your rights" with "stare decisis." Whitehouse's gambling questions got pretty specific, Colbert noted, wondering what exactly happened in New Jersey.

On Wednesday, Kavanaugh responded to Whitehouse's questions, saying he has "occasionally played poker or other games with friends and colleague," recalls "occasionally visiting casinos in New Jersey when I was in school or in my 20s" and having "played low-stakes blackjack," but said he has not accrued any gambling debt. The Late Show still had some fun splicing some of his noncommittal confirmation hearing answers into a poker game, and you can watch that below. Peter Weber

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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.