Wikimedia Commons Jessica Kethledge is the wife of Raymond Kethledge
Jessica Kethledge, the wife of federal Judge Raymond Kethledge and the mother of his two children, once worked for the Red Cross, and they’ve been married for almost 25 years.
Raymond Kethledge was widely reported to be among President Donald Trump’s final three picks to replace Anthony Kennedy on the United States Supreme Court. The other two choices are widely said to be federal Judges Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh. With some conservatives dividing over Barrett and Kavanaugh, Kethledge could emerge as the compromise option. Trump announced his pick on July 9, 2018. In the end, Trump chose Kavanaugh.
Kethledge’s rising stock has increased scrutiny of all aspects of Raymond Kethledge’s biography, including his family.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Kethledge Met His Wife, Jessica Kethledge, When They Were Both 13 & She Later Worked for the Red Cross
Raymond Kethledge
The Kethledges weren’t just high school sweethearts. They’ve known each other even long than that. According to Politico, Kethledge “met his wife, Jessica, when they were only 13 years old.”
They will celebrate 25 years of marriage later in 2018, the site reports. Raymond Kethledge is 51. Online records show that Jessica Kethledge is also in her 50s. A Connecticut College newsletter from 1997 says, “Jessica Levinson Kethledge is living in Alexandria, VA, and working for American Red Cross National Headquarters in the Disaster Services Department. She was married to Ray Kethledge in Green River, VT, in Aug. ’93.”
The couple’s marriage certificate gives his last name as Ketchledge, not Kethledge, and Raymond also signed the name with a C on the form. It’s not clear why it changed. The name “variation” is mentioned in Ray Kethledge’s 2017 book, Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude. His father is thanked in the book as Raymond A. Ketchledge, not Kethledge, and online records consistently give the dad’s and other relatives’ last names with a C.
“The variation in the spelling of Ray’s surname and his dad’s is a long story,” the book says. But it doesn’t explain the story. However, the now judge used the C spelling through the date he was married, at the least, as he signed the form that way.
In his nomination form to the Senate Judiciary Committee when he became a federal judge, Kethledge wrote, “Before October 1993, my name was spelled Raymond Michael Ketchledge. The deleted ‘c’ was silent.”
Ancestry.comRaymond Kethledge marriage certificate.
Jessica and Ray were married by a man named Harold Makepeace who ran the Spiral Shop Gallery, according to their marriage certificate.
Raymond Kethledge serves on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He was appointed to the court in 2008 by President George W. Bush. He’s a graduate of the University of Michigan and University of Michigan Law School.
He’s also spent time in private practice, and as counsel for U.S. Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.) and Ford Motor Company, according to Ballotpedia. He was a law clerk for federal judge Ralph Guy Jr., a Ronald Reagan appointee.
2. Raymond & Jessica Kethledge Have Two Children Together
Raymond Kethledge’s wife and daughter at his confirmation hearing.
According to Politico, Raymond and Jessica Kethledge are the parents of two children. Ray, 20, is a junior in college, and Ella, 17, is a senior in high school.
“My wife is Jessica Levinson Kethledge. Prior to our marriage, her name was Jessica Davi Levinson. She is home with our two children full-time,” Kethledge said during his confirmation hearing.
She graduated from Connecticut College in 1989. Raymond Benjamin was born in 1997, according to a college newsletter. In his book, Ray Kethledge says that Ella loves animals and wanted him to write it about Jane Goodall instead.
“Jessica Levinson Kethledge, husband, Ray, and new baby, Raymond, are ‘doing well and enjoying family life,'” the article reported.
3. Kethledge’s Wife & Children Were at His Confirmation Hearing
When Kethledge was nominated to the federal bench, his wife and two children accompanied him to the confirmation hearing. “Chairman, I’d like to introduce my wife, Jessica, my daughter, Ella, my son, Ray,” he said, according to a video of the moment.
He added that his father, Ray Ketchledge, his sister, Lori Strasius, and his mother, Diane Ketchledge, were also present. You can read the full transcript from that hearing here.
An obituary for Jessica’s grandmother says the family has roots in Massachusetts. Her grandmother was Anne Levinson (Whitman) Bornstein and she was 101 when she died.
4. Jessica Kethledge Told Her Husband He Was on ‘Trump’s List’ While She Was on the Treadmill
Raymond Kethledge
Raymond Kethledge recounted the moment he learned he was on Trump’s initial list of possibilities for U.S. Supreme Court back in 2016. “I didn’t know anything about it until it happened,” he said in an interview with Above the Law.
“I was up in my barn office, actually working on a chapter for this book. The landline phone rang. It was my wife, calling from the gym, where she was on a treadmill. She said, ‘I just saw you on TV! You’re on Trump’s list!'”
He added, “That was how I heard the news. It was distracting. I really had to get that chapter done in the short time I had up there. So I thanked my wife for letting me know, and went back to work. Fortunately my cellphone doesn’t work up there.”
The chapter and book he was referring to relate to Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude, the book he co-wrote on leadership.
5. Raymond Kethledge Works Out of a Barn Office Overlooking Lake Huron & His Wife Is an Unaffiliated Voter
In today WashPost @hughhewitt urges Raymond Kethledge for #SCOTUS
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At his 5/7/2008 judge confirmation hearing, Kethledge was joined by his wife, daughter, son, father, sister, mother, 2 law partners, & “a while bunch of other friends” – 34:30 here:
t.co/dqKmyOv1MA
One famous anecdote about Kethledge: His barn office in northern Michigan overlooking Lake Huron in a wooded area.
“I have no internet connection, the HVAC is a wood stove, and my workspace is a simple pine desk,” he told Above the Law, adding that he told one friend “that I get an extra 20 IQ points from being in that office.”
Jessica Kethledge is a runner. She completed a half marathon in 2009. She is registered to vote in Michigan but has no voter affiliation. The family lives in Novi, Michigan.