Justice Brett Kavanaugh had not yet been confirmed when the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Gundy v. United States; his vote could have changed the outcome.
Credit: Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty

Had Brett Kavanaugh not been accused of sexual assault, one of the first cases he would have heard as a Supreme Court Justice would have been that of Herman Gundy, a convicted sex offender. When nominated, last July, Kavanaugh was expected to be confirmed in time for the term that started last October. But the emergence of sexual assault allegations against him delayed his confirmation vote until October 6th, just after the Court’s first set of oral arguments—which included Gundy’s request to invalidate his federal conviction for failure to register as a sex offender. In June, the Court denied Gundy’s petition. As it turns out, Kavanaugh’s absence from the case likely changed its outcome.

Gundy v. United States was about the “Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act,” known as sorna, which Congress enacted in 2006. The statute made […]