Rachel Kovner, an assistant to the U.S. solicitor general, testifies Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee for her confirmation hearing to be a judge on the Eastern District of New York. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi / NLJ
Rachel Kovner, assistant to the U.S. solicitor general and federal district court nominee, may have been channeling her mentorship by the late Justice Antonin Scalia when she told a Senate committee Wednesday that text and original public meaning were the most important tools in interpreting the Constitution.
Kovner, nominated by President Donald Trump to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, clerked for Scalia in 2007-08 and earlier for Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The late justice was a staunch proponent of textualism and original public meaning.
