By: Sarah Sheinker, Opinions Editor
If you have been listening to the news lately, or even glanced at a newspaper, you would know there was a huge scandal surrounding the recently confirmed Supreme Court justice, Brett Kavanaugh.
Mrs. Casper gave an overview of Kavanaugh himself and his sexual assault scandal. We started at the beginning – who is Brett Kavanaugh? He was President Donald Trump’s nominee to fill the seat of retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. Kavanaugh previously served as a United States Circuit Court Judge to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. As far as everyone knew at the time of his nomination, he was qualified, and there was nothing that could disqualify him.
We then moved on to how he was nominated. Casper said, “So when they do that vetting process they have the Senate Judiciary Committee do a search, they also have the President’s advisors searching, and then you have certain senators who are looking at people too. Everyone is giving their input and they get what’s called the “short list” of candidates. From there they start looking at their background. They will look into anything the FBI has collected, anything they have ever written, any decisions they have ever made. They start digging into their past and anything that might jump out such as a criminal record because they don’t want to get to this part of the process and get a surprise, which of course they did. And then usually what happens is the president will meet with them and have what we call the Litmus Test. It is a closed-door conversation where they try to find out where each nominee stands politically and where they lie on certain issues.”
Finally, we discussed the details of the sexual assault scandal. Dr. Christine Blasey Ford is an American professor of psychology at Palo Alto University. When Dr. Ford saw Brett Kavanaugh’s name on Trump’s shortlist for the Supreme Court, she contacted her congresswoman, Anna Eshoo (D-CA), and The Washington Post. Eshoo and Ford went to Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), where Ford shared that when Kavanaugh and her were both in high school, he sexually assaulted her. Ford was very clear that she did not want her name to go public. Despite Ford’s best efforts her name eventually went public, and she told The Washington Post to publish her story.
Kavanaugh denied all of Dr. Ford’s allegations as “totally false and outrageous.” After a brief FBI investigation, the Senate decided to proceed with Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation, and he was confirmed by a full Senate vote of 50-48 on October 6th.
To gain a glimpse of how River Hill students may feel about this current event, two twelfth grade students, one liberal and one conservative, were asked to give their opinions on Kavanaugh’s nomination both before and after the scandal, as well as the Senate’s decision to confirm him.
The liberal student feels concerned about Kavanaugh’s views and the impact they will make on our country. “A more conservative Supreme Court worries me, as a lot of his views could take away our individual liberties… most notably abortion rights.” The student feels that Kavanaugh is not a respectful choice for the Supreme Court and is not suitable for the bench. “Whether or not the assault happened, he is arrogant and seems to feel he is entitled to serve on the Court rather than viewing it as an honor.” The student feels it was clear during the televised Senate proceedings that Kavanaugh acted unprofessionally and showed anger towards the Democratic Party, which means he can no longer be neutral. “He will always have a bias towards the people who attacked him [the Democrats].” The student was not surprised Kavanaugh was confirmed and feels “it is wrong in the same way that it is wrong that Merrick Garland isn’t on the Court.” Merrick Garland was nominated by President Obama to serve on the Court when Justice Antonin Scalia died, but the Senate declined to even begin Judge Garland’s confirmation process.
The conservative student feels that Judge Kavanaugh was a good candidate with good conservative views. The student was happy about his views on abortion, saying, “he’s pro-life and I liked that.” The student feels the same way about Kavanaugh after the scandal as he did before, noting, “I feel bad his reputation was tarnished” and “[the Senate] went through a complete process, and everyone is innocent until proven guilty.” The student believes the Senate was right to confirm Kavanaugh, and that “there is no proof that he did anything wrong and has always been a credible man.”
The issue of Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination has led to many heated discussions at the kitchen table and will continue to do so because he will serve a life term. Kavanaugh’s scandal brings up not only on the huge issue of sexual assault in our country but also the growing problem of political polarization. The major questions left are what will become of our Supreme Court and our country.