Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh was a member of the Yale Law School Class of 1990 and an editor on the Notes Committee of the Yale Law Journal. If confirmed, Judge Kavanaugh would join three other Yale Law School graduates currently on the Court—Justice Clarence Thomas ’74 and former Journal editors Justice Samuel Alito ’75 and Justice Sonia Sotomayor ’79.

While a member of the Journal, Judge Kavanaugh published a student Note entitled Defense Presence and Participation: A Procedural Minimum for Batson v. Kentucky Hearings. Judge Kavanaugh’s Note, published in Volume 99 of the Journal, analyzed what procedure courts should use when inquiring into prosecutorial motives for peremptory challenges after a defendant has made a prima facie claim of purposeful racial discrimination. The Note argues that the defense should be present to hear a prosecutor articulate his “neutral explanation,” and further, that the defense should have an opportunity to rebut that explanation before a judge rules on whether to permit the prosecutor’s peremptories.

The citation for the Note is: Brett M. Kavanaugh, Defense Presence and Participation: A Procedural Minimum for Batson v. Kentucky Hearings, 99 Yale L.J. 187 (1989). It may be read here.