If you’ve paid any attention to the news in the past month, you’ve probably heard the name, Brett Kavanaugh. Depending on the news source, you might have heard good or bad things about him and you aren’t sure what to think. So, if you don’t really know, Brett Kavanaugh is the man who Donald Trump appointed to be on the Supreme Court to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy.
First, a little about him. Brett Kavanaugh is an American attorney and jurist who serves as a circuit judge on the US court of appeals in Washington DC. Since 2006, Kavanaugh has served on the court of appeals after being nominated by President George Bush.
Brett Kavanaugh is known for his conservative opinions surrounding the second amendment, religious freedoms, abortion, and same-sex marriage and other LGBTQ issues. Many of these pressing issues may be under attack if Brett Kavanaugh is appointed to the Supreme Court. But there was someone standing in his way: Christine Blasey Ford.
Christine Blasey Ford was the woman who accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault. According to a statement from CNN, Ford claimed that “Kavanaugh allegedly groped her and tried to remove her clothes during a party in their high school years.” Kavanaugh denied these allegations, claiming what she is saying is untrue, but that didn’t stop the scrutiny.
There was an investigation to determine whether or not Ford’s accusation was credible. Christine Ford testified against Kavanaugh on Thursday, September 27th. This was a critical event in whether or not Brett Kavanaugh would be moved onto the next round to be confirmed to the Supreme Court.
After the testimonies from both Ford and Kavanaugh, a week-long FBI investigation was conducted, an investigation many said was too short and not thorough enough to find sufficient information.
On Saturday, October 6th, Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court in a 50-48 vote. Republican Lisa Murkowski from Alaska voted present, Republican Steve Daniels from Montana did not vote, and Democrat Joe Manchin from West Virginia voted yes, and the rest of the senators voted with their parties accordingly.
Here’s why one should care if about Brett Kavanaugh. Brett Kavanaugh is 53 years old. Hypothetically, he could be on the Supreme Court for up to 30 more years. In 30 years from now, we’ll all be in our forties. Now that he has been sworn in, he will be another conservative presence on the Supreme Court, especially with the lack of Kennedy’s moderate presence, able to voice his opinion on so-called controversial issues such as gun laws, abortion rights, LGBT-related issues.
A few weeks ago, The Spartan sent out a survey to see how much the students felt about Brett Kavanaugh. The results are as follows:Sources: Washington Post, New York Times, CNN
