Op-Ed
By Ben Schiffman
At the helm of the judicial branch, the Supreme Court of the United States is arguably the most influential portion of our federal government, and packing the court with partisan judges can have permanent effects on the course of our country’s history. The confirmation of Justice, Brett Kavanaugh, goes to show that partisan greed outweighs the potential impact of a massively unfit justice being on the nation’s highest court for decades.
In the closest vote to confirm a Supreme Court nominee in decades, the senate ignored Kavanaugh’s prominent and relevant flaws, and confirmed him to a lifelong position as a leader in our interpretation of the nations most basic laws, with the potential to guide our country’s moral and legal position for years to come.
A senate this split was never meant to be able to confirm a candidate like Brett Kavanaugh. Clearly a partisan judge, the former super majority senate rules would have prevented any candidate like Kavanaugh from reaching the court. However, the rules have been changed, and the moment Kavanagh was nominated we were bound for a fight. During his confirmation process, the Republican majority was swift and aggressive in pushing aside negative coverage, questions or positions about Kavanaugh. Desperate to tilt the court in their favor, Republicans pushed Kavanaugh through the judiciary committee in what can only justly be acknowledged as going through the motions.
When Dr. Christine Blasey Ford accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting and attempting to rape her when the two were in high school, the Republicans struggled to accept her accusations as credible and again went through the motions of letting her voice be heard. If it wasn’t for a somewhat morally conscious Jeff Flake, there would have been no more than a fake hearing before the judiciary committee that pit a calm, emotional Dr. Ford against a raging Kavanaugh. In this hearing Kavanaugh showed the world his true colors as a deeply partisan and angry justice, as he sat in the eyes of the country and questioned if Dr. Ford was a puppet of the Democratic party, accusing him as a part of a retaliation plot against Trump led by the Clintons.
This man, whose angry temperament and tendency to stretch the truth to the point of blatant lies was not fit to serve the country in any public office, yet the Republicans couldn’t care less. With the midterm elections around the corner, and the potential to vastly change the dynamic of power in Congress, Republican leadership put party over country to confirm Justice Kavanaugh.
In such an intense, conceivably historic junction in the United State’s legal history, this partisan appointee goes to show how little the right cares about their place in history.
