Arnold & Porter's Lisa Blatt, speaking at a Legal Times Supreme Court event in 2011. Photo by Diego M. Radzinschi/THE NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL

Toward the end of a tumultuous first day of the confirmation hearing for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Arnold & Porter partner Lisa Blatt on Tuesday praised Kavanaugh as “the best choice liberals could reasonably hope for.”

Blatt was one of three “introducers” for Kavanaugh, along with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.

Kavanaugh's decisions on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit are consistently “thoughtful and fair,” Blatt said, adding that some of his writings have become “instant classics” widely read by lawyers.

Blatt said Kavanaugh was a longtime friend and mentor helping her in her career. The leader of Arnold & Porter's appellate and Supreme Court practice, Blatt has argued 35 cases before the Supreme Court, more than any other woman in history.

She also praised Kavanaugh  for being “remarkably committed to promoting women in the legal profession,” noting that more than half of his law clerks have been women.

A self-described liberal feminist, Blatt told the Senate Judiciary Committee that she voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Barack Obama twice before then. She said she wished that liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, for whom she once clerked, could cast all nine votes on the Supreme Court.

She also faulted the Senate for blocking a hearing for Merrick Garland, the chief judge of the D.C. Circuit who was appointed by Obama to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016. But Blatt urged Democrats to avoid “tit for tat” politics by punishing Kavanaugh to avenge the treatment of Garland.

Blatt said she has received “many angry calls” from friends and strangers because of her decision to support Kavanaugh publicly, first revealed in an August 2 Politico column. She also was the target of critical tweets and elsewhere on social media. Brian Fallon, a former spokesman for Eric Holder who is now leading a Democrat push focusing on the judiciary, said in one tweet that Blatt was putting “corporate interests ahead of progressive causes.”

“Sometimes a superstar is just a superstar,” Blatt wrote in Politico column. “That is the case with Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who had long been considered the most qualified nominee for the Supreme Court if Republicans secured the White House. The Senate should confirm him.”

Blatt also helped organize a joint letter in support of Kavanaugh by 41 appellate advocates that was sent to the Judiciary Committee in late August.

 

 

 

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