President Trump has nominated Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court to fill the vacancy left by retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy.

If confirmed, Trump's choice would solidify the high court's conservative majority and continue the president's push to shift the federal bench to the right.

Trump announced his choice with a prime-time address from the White House East Room. Since 2006, Kavanaugh has served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, often called the nation's second most powerful court. He was appointed to that post by President George W. Bush, after serving as Bush's White House staff secretary.

Kavanaugh graduated from Yale Law School and clerked for Kennedy in the mid-1990s. Kavanaugh later worked with independent counsel Kenneth Starr during the investigation of President Bill Clinton.

With files from the Assocated Pres

Guests:

Richard Re, associate professor of law at UCLA who clerked for Brett Kavanaugh on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit from 2008-2009 

Margaret Russell, associate professor of Law at Santa Clara University

Adam White, Hoover Institution and director of the Center for the Study of the Administrative State at George Mason University; he is also on the executive committee of the Federalist Society’s Administrative Law Practice Group; he tweets

Julie Nice, professor of law at the University of San Francisco, where her areas of expertise include constitutional law  

Amanda Hollis-Brusky, professor of politics at Pomona College and author of “Ideas with Consequences: The Federalist Society and The Conservative Counterrevolution” (Oxford University Press, 2015)

Jody Armour, professor of law at USC

John Eastman, constitutional law professor at Chapman University; senior fellow at the think tank The Claremont Institute

Ilya Shapiro, senior fellow in constitutional studies at Cato Institute and editor-in-chief of the Cato Supreme Court Review; he tweets

William P. Marshall, professor of law at the University of North Carolina, specializing in federal courts, presidential power and judicial selection matters; former deputy White House counsel and deputy assistant to President Clinton