Controversy on Capital Hill

Is Brett Kavanaugh Fit for the Supreme Court?

On October 5, conservative nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice by the Senate in a narrow margin of 51-49 vote. His confirmation sparked outrage among many, representing yet another division between political parties in the United States.

The controversy stems from accusations that Kavanaugh allegedly sexually assaulted women that date back to his high school and college years. The most controversial allegation was by Christine Blasey Ford, who testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee in late September of 2018. During the occasion, she recounted the early 1980s when Ford was 15 and Kavanaugh was 17. She said that Kavanaugh and his friend, Mark Judge, drunkenly forced her into a bedroom during a party. As Judge watched, she explained, Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed, groped her, and gawky attempted to pull off her bathing suit. When she tried to scream, he put his hand over her mouth.

Many are skeptical of her accusation due to the lack of substantiated evidence and conflicting details in her accounts of the assault. In Ford’s testimony in front of the Senate, she identified four individuals by name (including her friend, Leland Keyser) who attended the party, but this differs with the number of individuals that she mentioned to her therapist. In her therapist’s notes, and in a letter she sent to Senator Dianne Feinstein in late July, she alleged that there were five boys who attempted to rape her. Another change was the location where the sexual assault took place. She insisted that the attack happened at a house near a country club; yet, when the relevant location of it was revealed, Ford backtracked saying that she would describe the house as somewhere between her house and the country club, adding that the club was a 20-minute drive from her home.

After the Senate testimony hearing, former Supreme Court member Justice John Paul Stevens was amongst the plethora of people who expressed their disapproval towards Kavanaugh. Before the hearing, Stevens believed Kavanaugh had the qualifications to participate in the Supreme Court. Once Kavanaugh erupted in anger lashing out at the Democrats, Stevens became displeased noticing that he showed partisanship.

With the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment providing a fair due process and an inconsistent claim, these leave me in a neutral stance until further evidence is released.