During his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee last Thursday, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh attempted to spin an entry in his high school yearbook that seems to refer to binge drinking as merely reflecting his weak stomach.

With regard to “Beach Week Ralph Club” — an apparent reference to vomiting — Kavanaugh, who was also listed as “treasurer” of the “Keg City Club,” told Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-VT) that “anyone who has known me…know[s] I got a weak stomach, whether it’s with beer or with spicy food or anything.”

Kavanaugh — who was testifying about Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation that he sexually assaulted her at a gathering in high school — made a case that whatever puking he did in those days was mainly because of his “weak stomach,” not intoxication. But that response is extremely suspect now, in light of a letter Kavanaugh wrote to seven Georgetown Preparatory School classmates who joined him for a weeklong vacation at an Ocean City, Maryland condo in 1983 that was obtained by New York Times this week.


In it, Kavanaugh wrote to his friends that “it would probably be a good idea on Sat. the 18th to warn the neighbors that we’re loud, obnoxious drunks with prolific pukers among us. Advise them to go about about 30 miles…”

Here's the full text of Kavanaugh's two-page letter, sent ahead of "Beach Week" in June 1983. ("Bart" was his nickname in high school.) pic.twitter.com/29VNDUUMnp — David Enrich (@davidenrich) October 2, 2018

Kavanaugh’s testimony about his drinking isn’t the only thing that’s hard to swallow in light of the “Beach Week” letter. The future judge signed the letter using his high school nickname “Bart.” That nickname came up during last week’s hearing, in the context of a book one of Kavanaugh’s high school friends and classmates — Mark Judge, who’s also the only alleged eyewitness to Kavanaugh’s sexual assault of Ford — wrote about the the drinking culture at their school of Georgetown Prep.

In Wasted: Tales of a Gen X Drunk, Judge writes about “a passed-out ‘Bart O’Kavanaugh,’ who drank too much and once threw up in a car,” as the Washington Post puts it.


“Bart O’Kavanaugh” seems obviously to be a pseudonym for Brett Kavanaugh. But Kavanaugh dodged questions about the reference last Thursday.

“In ‘Wasted: Tales of a Gen X Drunk,’ [Judge] references ‘Bart O’Kavanaugh’ vomiting in someone’s car during Beach Week, and passing out,” Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said to Kavanaugh at the time. “Is that you that he’s talking about?”

“Senator, ah, Mark Judge, ah, was…” he said, dissembling, before Leahy prodded him to get to the point.

“I’ll explain if you let me…” Kavanaugh continued, before deflecting by providing a mini-biography of Judge, who he described as a cancer-stricken alcoholic who wrote a “fictionalized” book.

“So you don’t know whether that’s you or not?” Leahy interjected, incredulously. Instead of answering, Kavanaugh accused Leahy of “making fun of some guy who has an addiction.”

Kavanaugh’s refusal to admit that he may have been the “Bart O’Kavanaugh” from Judge’s book appears extremely questionable, in light of the revelation that he called himself “Bart” in correspondence with his friends.

Kavanaugh’s letter, combined with Judge’s description of “Beach Week” in his book, also calls into question Kavanaugh’s sworn denial that he never drank to the point of passing out.