Jun 6, 2024 - Politics & Policy

Scoop: Justice Brett Kavanaugh plans legal memoir

Mike Allen

Photo illustration of Brett Kavanaugh holding a quill. — Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/AP/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Justice Brett Kavanaugh is working on a legal memoir at a time when the Supreme Court is being increasingly scrutinized amid falling public trust.

Why it matters: Kavanaugh, 59, has been relatively quiet amid a host of controversies. Now he's expected to give his point of view on everything from the fracas over his 2018 confirmation to the 2022 plot to kill him, a source familiar with the project tells Axios.

Driving the news: The book, which is not yet titled, is expected to be published in 2025 or 2026.

Kavanaugh originally signed a contract with Regnery Publishing, a leading conservative house.
But after Regnery was sold to Skyhorse Publishing in December, the project moved to the Center Street imprint at Hachette Book Group.

The big picture: Kavanaugh is the latest of several justices to write memoirs.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor's 2013 memoir, "My Beloved World," debuted as a No. 1 New York Times bestseller. Justice Neil Gorsuch's "A Republic, If You Can Keep It" was also a Times bestseller.
A memoir by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, "Lovely One," is due out in September.
A book deal by Justice Amy Coney Barrett drew protests in publishing circles.

Between the lines: Kavanaugh knows there's great interest in what he has to say — and wanted to tell his story himself, as other justices have, the source told us.

Reality check: The book is sure to be as polarizing as its author.

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Scoop: Justice Brett Kavanaugh plans legal memoir

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