Ed Whelan has clerked for conservative Justice Antonin Scalia and worked in the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel during the first half of George W. Bush’s presidency. In 2004 he became president of the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center, and he also writes on legal issues at National Review. During Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation battle in 2018, he briefly stepped down from his position for concocting a ridiculous conspiracy theory to defend Kavanaugh from an accusation that he sexually assaulted a girl in high school.