--- title: Brett Kavanaugh's First Question as a Supreme Court Justice description: Justice Brett Kavanaugh began his new job by asking his first question about 20 minutes into the first argument of the day. canonical: https://time.com/5419736/brett-kavanaugh-supreme-court-first-question/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-10-09T18:36:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T21:41:36.904Z article:section: Politics og:title: This Is Brett Kavanaugh's First Question as a Supreme Court Justice og:description: Justice Brett Kavanaugh began his new job by asking his first question about 20 minutes into the first argument of the day og:url: https://time.com/5419736/brett-kavanaugh-supreme-court-first-question/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta2bce28960f932d3/69893c23656a3f82f7bd5a93/gettyimages-1047770162.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-TRUMP-COURT og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Is Brett Kavanaugh's First Question as a Supreme Court Justice twitter:description: Justice Brett Kavanaugh began his new job by asking his first question about 20 minutes into the first argument of the day twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta2bce28960f932d3/69893c23656a3f82f7bd5a93/gettyimages-1047770162.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Is Brett Kavanaugh's First Question as a Supreme Court Justice  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Oct 9, 2018 6:36 PM UTC  Brett Kavanaugh is sworn-in as Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court on Oct. 8, 2018 at the White House. Brett Kavanaugh is sworn-in as Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court on Oct. 8, 2018 at the White House.Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Oct 9, 2018 6:36 PM UTC There were no signs of the recent contentious confirmation battle inside the Supreme Court Tuesday as Justice Brett Kavanaugh began his new job, asking his first question about 20 minutes into the first argument of the day. Seated on the far right end of the bench, Kavanaugh listened alongside his eight colleagues to _Stokeling v. United States_, a case about whether a state robbery offense should be classified as a “violent felony” under the 1984 Armed Career Criminal Act, which is a criminal sentencing law that increases prison sentences after multiple violent felonies. On Oct. 6, Kavanagh was confirmed to the court [by a vote of 50-48 in the Senate](http://time.com/5417538/bett-kavanaugh-confirmed-senate-supreme-court/), a slim victory after multiple women had [accused him of sexual misconduct](http://time.com/5417815/kavanaugh-accusers-responding-supreme-court-confirmation/). Within a half hour of the start of his first oral argument on the Supreme Court Tuesday, Kavanaugh had already proved he wouldn’t be a silent presence on the bench like Justice Clarence Thomas, who went through a similarly bruising confirmation process in 1991 but was famously quiet during questioning. Here’s the first question Kavanaugh asked the counsel for Denard Stokeling, referencing the 2010 case _Johnson v. 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