Kavanope

By: Agung Putra Carver Times Political Opinion Staff Writer

The United States Supreme Court is the highest court in all of the land. It has the powers to change laws, ruling laws unconstitutional and serving as a check and balances in government. The justices that serve have the responsibility to protect and defend the Constitution while at the same time rule in favor or against controversial issues that conflict with the Constitution. Justices are nominated by the president and confirmed in the senate by a simple majority. The justices that are nominated are more likely to agree with the president and a majority of senators because in order to be successfully nominated and confirmed the justice must have both qualifications. The Supreme Court has been a crucial decision maker in history, from legalizing gay marriage and interracial marriage, ending school segregation, protecting free speech and legalizing abortions.

All of these decisions were approved by a Supreme Court that valued America’s best interests. Now all of this is under threat due to the Trump administration nominating Brett Kavanaugh. Brett Kavanaugh has a long experience is politics. Like most high ranking officials in politics they studied at Ivy League Institutions. Kavanaugh, like most federal judges studied at Yale Law. He then went on to work at the Bush White House, and after that served as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Court. Now he is nominated to be a Supreme Court Justices and in the process of Senate hearing. If confirmed in the Senate, Judge Kavanaugh will have the luxury of serving in a life long position on the Supreme Court, championing conservative America. However, there are a lot of obstacles that Trump, Judge Kavanaugh, and Republicans must overcome before Judge Kavanaugh can sit on the bench. The game of politics is heavily at play in during his confirmation hearings.

For starters, Democrats and liberal activists are upset and outraged at the fast deadlines that are placed on the hearings. This cheap political tactic is because Republicans do not want to delay his confirmation, fearing that if Democrats win in November, there chance of nominating a conservative is gone. Lengthening his hearing would just open up opportunities for Democrats to find dirt on him, which they have already found.

There are two important issues that are troubling about Kavanaugh. His play on the Russian Investigation and the allegation that Kavaugh sexual assulted a girl in high school. The Senate committee gave Christine Blasey Ford a fast deadline if she wants to provide her testimony on Capitol Hill. The deadline was set up by Republicans because they fear that her testimony may make some senators uneasy. She testified on Capitol Hill and the FBI decided to investigate Kavanaugh. However, Trump’s set on limiting this investigation and fast tracking his nomination.

There are also problems with controversy and hypocrisy. Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell once blocked President's Obama nominee because it was an election year, but the real answer was he feared a liberal majority in the Supreme Court. Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer questioned why this year would be any different. There is also a big problem with the votes. 51 votes are needed for confirmation. The Republicans need the votes of Senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins for confirmation, and they are pro-choice Republicans.These two votes are swing votes, which mean they can vote either way. Conservatives are typically pro-life or anti choice but these two are still uncertain of how they will vote.

As for me, after watching the hearing from Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford, he should not be confirmed to the Supreme Court. Not because of his conservative values but because of his horrible temperament and the half responses when asked by the Senate Judiciary Committee.