Justice Brett Kavanaugh lauded the operations of the current Supreme Court as "government at its finest" in public remarks on Thursday, despite ethical and political controversies facing the court, the Washington Post reports.

Why it matters: Kavanaugh's remarks at the annual 8th Circuit Judicial Conference in Bloomington, Minnesota, were the first public appearance of a justice since the court ended its latest highly charged session.

• The conservative-majority court ended affirmative action in higher education, struck down the Biden administration's student loan forgiveness plan, restricted regulatory control over certain bodies of water and limited LGBTQ protections.
• It also sided with civil rights groups and minority voters in an Alabama redistricting case and rejected an effort from Republicans to prevent courts from hearing cases on election laws, which would have effectively given state legislatures complete control over elections, including presidential races.

What they're saying: Kavanaugh avoided speaking to the court's more controversial decisions and instead focused on how he and the other eight justices work together, saying, "We work as a group of nine, as a team of nine."

• "We don’t caucus in separate rooms," Kavanaugh said. "We don’t meet separately. We’re not sitting on different sides of the aisle at oral argument, so to speak, on the bench"
• His description contrasted what the public saw in the opinions of one of the final cases of the session, in which...

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