Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh spent most of his teen years at Georgetown Preparatory School in Bethesda, Md., in the 1980s. Exactly what happened one summer night during that time has become a question that threatens to unravel his chances of joining the nation's highest court.

NORTH BETHESDA, Md. — To the uninitiated, Georgetown Preparatory School feels less like a high school than a well-heeled liberal arts college. The 93-acre campus in a Maryland suburb of the nation’s capital boasts a state-of-the-art athletic center, a nine-hole golf course, and its own gift shop. Gardeners crisscross the grounds on carts.

This is where U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh spent most of his teen years. And exactly what happened one summer night during that time has become a question that threatens to unravel his chances of joining the nation’s highest court.

Multiple accounts from 1980s-era classmates depict an alcohol-soaked party culture among the close-knit network of single-sex, mostly Roman Catholic private schools in the country’s wealthiest state. At raucous house parties and drunken beach vacations, boys from Georgetown Prep and other all-male academies would meet up with students from nearby all-girl private schools like Stone Ridge, Holy Cross, Georgetown Visitation and the non-sectarian Holton-Arms School. Binge drinking was a routine part of the social scene, with minimal adult supervision.

California college professor Christine Blasey Ford, a 1984 graduate of Holton-Arms, has accused Kavanaugh, who graduated Georgetown Prep in 1983, of pinning her down in a locked bedroom and groping her during a drunken house party when she was about 15 and he was about 17. As details of the allegation emerged, a video clip from a 2015 speech Kavanaugh made at Catholic University’s law school circulated online, prompting some to view the comments in a more disturbing context. In the speech, Kavanaugh referenced some old friends and jokingly referred to an unofficial motto at his alma mater.

“We had a good saying that we’ve held firm to, to this day, as the dean was reminding me before the talk, which is: ‘What happens at Georgetown Prep, stays at Georgetown Prep.”’ The remark drew chuckles from the audience. “That’s been a good thing for all of us, I think,” added Kavanaugh, who played varsity football and basketball.

Georgetown Prep has had notable graduates throughout its long history. But it’s likely never had a stretch of alumni achieving national prominence as it has during the Trump administration. The elite high school also graduated President Donald Trump’s other Supreme Court appointee, Neil Gorsuch, and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

Until this past week, when Ford’s story surfaced, there was little doubt that Kavanaugh would be similarly successful.

The allegation — which Kavanaugh denies — has drawn dueling responses from inside this privileged community, where many private school graduates keep in close contact, ‘personally and professionally.

Last week, 65 women who knew Kavanaugh then defended him in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee as someone who “always treated women with decency and respect.” Most of them had attended local all-girl high schools when Kavanaugh was at Georgetown Prep.

Hundreds of Holton-Arms alumnae dating back to 1967 countered with a letter stating that they believe Ford’s version and are grateful she came forward.

Scott McCaleb, a Washington lawyer who’s been a Kavanaugh buddy since his Georgetown Prep days, didn’t characterize the youthful alcohol consumption as out of the ordinary, noting the drinking age was 18 at the time. He said Kavanaugh always treated his female peers with respect.