How Usha Vance has played a quietly supportive role in her husband’s political career

Oct. 1, 2024, 10:00 AM UTC / Updated Oct. 2, 2024, 3:00 AM UTCBy Clarissa-Jan LimUsha Vance, the wife of Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance, has played the role of supportive spouse on the campaign trail. Yet the lawyer has been subject to intense scrutiny: Her professional career has been dissected, her image has been contrasted with those of other women in Donald Trump’s orbit, and, most of all, her politics have been widely speculated upon.Usha Vance, who comes from a family of academics, has had a wildly successful career in law. She studied at the prestigious Yale Law School, clerked for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh when he was an appeals court judge and then was a clerk to Chief Justice John Roberts. She went on to work as a trial lawyer at Munger, Tolles & Olson, a position she left when her husband became Trump’s running mate.A child of Indian immigrants who grew up in a middle-class neighborhood in San Diego, she met her future husband at Yale.A…