On Oct. 6, in a controversial decision, the Supreme Court voted 50-48 to confirm Brett Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court Justice. He was sworn in later that day.
Sophomore Johanna Leffler was “really disappointed” in his confirmation, calling it “a big setback.” Leffler attended high school just 15 minutes away from the high school that Kavanaugh had attended at the time that the alleged sexual assault took place against Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. She claims that the reputation of the students at Georgetown Preparatory School is not a positive one. Leffler feels that Kavanaugh felt an unwarranted sense of entitlement to a position on the Supreme Court.
It has been nearly impossible to avoid all of the controversy surrounding this decision and his nomination. His confirmation follows sexual assault allegations, one of which led to a Senate Judiciary hearing in which he testified. The hearing was streamed by most major news networks and countless articles were written, updating readers on the multiple accusations, senator’s thoughts on Kavanaugh, his alleged binge-drinking in his youth and more.
Freshman Audrey Visscher said that she watched part of the hearing in Hope Commons on the TV and was able to see the pure emotion on Kavanaugh’s face despite there not being any audio. Visscher said that “if Christine Blasey Ford was any type of emotional in that way, she would not have been taken seriously.” She expressed frustration that Kavanaugh was allowed to carry on in such a manner despite him having said in 2015 during a speech at the Columbus Law School at Catholic University that a “good judge” must “keep [their] emotions in check.”
Freshman Christos Tufts also believes that he lied during the hearing and that because of this Kavanaugh should not have been confirmed. With the confirmation, Tufts feels “uneasy” about the government and the power the government has over citizens.
Other students received their news from articles by CNN, Fox News and The New York Times as well as social media and television programs such as “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.”
Following the hearing was an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with a week-long time limit set by the White House. This is not the first time a Supreme Court nominee has been investigated for sexual misconduct by the FBI. In 1991, the FBI conducted an investigation of Clarence Thomas who had been accused of sexual assault by Anita Hill. This investigation was completed in just three days and Thomas was confirmed.
Freshman Emily Drell felt that the investigation of Kavanaugh was rushed and thinks that there is a possibility that the White House “manipulated” it through the limits that were set on time allowed to carry out the investigation as well as the limited number of people the FBI actually talked to which did not include Ford.
Many believe that with Kavanaugh’s confirmation, it is only a matter of time before the decision made in the 1973 case, Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion, will be overturned. Drell, Vescher and Leffler all cited the potential overturning of this decision as a concern of theirs now that Kavanaugh serves as a Justice on the Supreme Court.
“I think [the confirmation is] going to affect a lot of women and minorities,” Leffler said.
While it is unclear what the effects of this decision will be in the long-run, it is undeniable that Kavanaugh’s confirmation has been clouded with controversy.