Yet another Ivy League grad tapped for the highest court

By Jack Crittenden

With the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, President Donald Trump had his second opportunity to nominate a Supreme Court justice. And he went Ivy League — again. 

Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh for the coveted spot. He’s a Yale Law School grad, so if comfirmed by the U.S. Senate, he will be the fourth justice from that school on the court. 

Earlier in his term, Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch, a Havard Law School graduate, to the nation’s highest court. He was later confirmed by the Senate. 

When it came to this most recent nomination, many were hoping for greater diversity, at least in terms of law school alma mater. Kennedy and four of the returning justices (Gorsuch, Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan and John Roberts) graduated from Harvard Law School. Kagan was even dean of Harvard prior to her appointment. Ruth Bader Ginsburg transferred to Columbia Law School after two years at Harvard.

The other three justices (Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayer and Clarence Thomas) graduated from Yale Law School.

Harvard and Yale have long dominated the Supreme Court, with Harvard boasting 20 alumni and Yale 10. Columbia Law School is third with seven alumni. Only The University of Michigan Law School joins the three Ivy League schools with more than two justices. But its third justice. Frank Murphy, retired in 1949.  

Since then, more than 70 percent of Supreme Court justices were graduates of Ivy League institutions. While an Ivy League degree is often viewed as a simple litmus test for filtering viable candidates, some legal professionals and pundits see the continual nomination of Yale and Harvard graduates as a disturbing elitist trend. 

Some were hoping that this pick would break the trend, given Trump’s short list. Of the 25 candidates Trump had listed, only six hailed from an Ivy League school — four from Yale and two from Harvard.

Kavanaugh, 53, has the kind of resume that past nominees have sported as well. He clerked for Kennedy, for instance. Currently, he’s a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. “Judge Kavanaugh has impeccable credentials, unsurpassed qualifications and a proven commitment to equal justice under the law,” Trump said when announcing the nomination.

The rest on his short list had more humble academic roots. They come from 17 other schools, including 11 that have never produced a Supreme Court Justice. These include three top 14 law schools — University of Chicago, Georgetown University and Duke University. But there are also other schools that, while highly respected, are not considered elite — Marquette University, Brigham Young University, University of Miami, University of Georgia, University of Kansas and University of Oklahoma.

In addition to Harvard and Yale, Notre Dame Law School had multiple candidates — Amy Coney Barrett, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and Margaret Ryan, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.

University of Chicago also has two on the list — Allison Eid, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and Thomas Lee, Supreme Court of Utah. Both graduated in 1991.

Twelve of the candidates graduated after 1991, with the most recent graduates being Patrick Wyrick, University of Oklahoma class of 2007, and Britt Grant, Stanford Law School class of 2007.

The elite schools of the Northeast were not always a cradle for future Supreme Court appointments. Remarkably, a Juris Doctor is not even a requirement to become a Supreme Court justice. Before Benjamin Robbins graduated from Harvard Law School in 1832, justices either studied the law under a sitting judge or went to law school and did not graduate. In the nation’s short history, just 48 out of 112 justices successfully graduated from law school. Of those graduates, 15 were from Harvard and 6 were from Yale. Others graduated from equally prestigious schools such as Stanford.

Trump’s Short List

Associate Editor Tyler Roberts contributed to this story.