An “explosive” secretive documentary debut, Justice, from Doug Liman has premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and reopens the can of worms regarding allegations made against Brett Kavanaugh in July 2018, 14 years after he and his wife Ashley Estes celebrated their wedding.
It was a surprise entry, similar to Navalny, which entered the documentary competition 24 hours before it premiered at Sundance 2022.
The sudden appearance, writes Slate, gave Justice a “sense of urgency and mystery,” even if the film itself doesn’t drop any “bombshells.”
With the media’s lens trained, once again, on associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Brett Kavanaugh, here’s what we know about his relationship with wife Ashley Estes Kavanaugh, including the year of their wedding, and details of their family life.
How long have Brett Kavanaugh and wife Ashley Estes been husband and wife?
Nearly 20 years. They married in 2004; their wedding took place at Christ Church in Georgetown, Washington DC.
Among the guests at Brett and Ashley’s wedding were George Bush and his wife Laura. Ashley was Bush’s personal secretary at the time.
“It was the only wedding in the hundreds I have planned where all of the guests were in their seats 15 minutes early,” wedding planner Laura Weatherly told the Washingtonian in 2008, for a feature on the weddings of the “rich and famous.”
Security was tight. But not only that, since she and her staff all wore black, many of the guests reportedly assumed they were security. She told the Washingtonian: “There’s no lollygagging when Secret Service are holding machine guns outside of the church.”
What were each of them doing at the time?
In 2004, the year of Brett and Ashley Estes Kavanaugh’s wedding, Ashley was the personal secretary to President George Bush.
At least, she was until that year. Then, in 2005, she became the director of special projects at the George W Bush Presidential Foundation. She stayed in place there until 2009, when she became the media relations coordinator at Bush’s Presidential Center.
Since 2016, Brett Kavanaugh’s wife has been the town manager of the village of Chevy Chase Section Five, in Maryland. She took over from John Higgins.
Brett, meanwhile, was White House staff secretary during the Bush administration. The New York Times reported in April of 2004 that he had been a “central figure” in Bush’s efforts to “fill the nation’s appeals courts with recognized conservatives.”
Do Brett Kavanaugh and wife Ashley Estes Kavanaugh have children?
Yes. They have two daughters, whose names are Liza and Margaret.
Two years after their wedding, Brett and Ashley Kavanaugh bought a $1.2 million home in Chevy Chase Section 5. As of a New York Times report from July 2018, they still lived there with their two daughters, and a small white dog by the name of Murphy.
At that time, Brett was making $221K a year as a federal judge; Ashley was earning $60K as a town manager.
Ashley is from Abilene, in Texas. She graduated from Abilene Cooper High School in 1993; went to the University of Texas at Austin, graduating in 1997 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism; and first started working for George Bush in 1996.
Is the new Brett Kavanaugh documentary available to stream online?
No. Not yet, at least. No one even knew it would screen at Sundance – other than the festival organisers – until a few days ago.
According to Deadline, CAA is handling sales for the highly secretive project. The response in the theater was reportedly “enthusiastic.”
The outlet quotes director Doug Liman as saying that, if it hadn’t been as secretive as it was, the “machinery that’s put into place against anyone that speaks up […] would be turned on [them].”
In lieu of any official announcement, would-be audiences will have to content themselves with hoping that it will appear on streaming services, on television, or in theaters soon.