… Kavanaugh is a D.C. insider who has taken conservative positions as an appellate judge, and he has been a member of the Federalist Society since 1988, participating, for example, by hosting a dinner for admitted Yale law students in April. Barring a late-breaking surprise, the fifth and decisive brick of a conservative Supreme Court wall is about to be put into place. In the controversial cases that shape the public’s perception of the court, we can expect to see a full-blown partisan divide, with the conservative bloc, all Republican appointees, facing off against four liberal-moderates chosen by Democratic presidents.
Assuming Kavanaugh votes as his record suggests, the court will move to the right on several important fronts, even as the country’s demographics predict a shift of the electorate to the left, with more young voters and voters of color. Several priorities of the conservative legal movement already conflict with public opinion. CONT.
Emily Bazelon, New York Times Magazine