TUSCALOOSA—Judge Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed as the United States Supreme Court’s 114thJustice on Saturday. Alabama students have mixed feelings about this.
Justice Kavanaugh has been the topic of many conversations across campus for the past few weeks, but especially at political meetings for the UA chapters of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), College Republicans (CR) and United for Reproductive and Gender Equity (URGE). After several sexual assault allegations came out against Kavanaugh just days before he was supposed to be confirmed, the conversation changed from whether or not we should confirm a conservative originalist, to whether we should believe a potential victim with very little evidence.
After a hearing with both Kavanaugh and the alleged victim, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, and a thorough FBI investigation, the senate finally made their decision this past Saturday. The Senate voted 50-48, in favor of confirming Kavanaugh. Senator Daines was absent for the vote, and Senator Murkowski abstained her vote.
Many students are thrilled with the results of Justice Kavanaugh being confirmed, while others are less excited.
Last week, before the confirmation, the YAF chapter at the University of Alabama made Kavanaugh the topic of their meeting. Most of the YAF members agreed that they liked Kavanaugh’s rulings on previous cases but many of the members disagreed on how to handle the allegations.
Katie Carroll, the Vice President of Young Americans For Freedom and Social Engagement Chair of College Republicans spoke about her own sexual assault in the context of Justice Kavanaugh. “As a conservative woman who believes in a strict interpretation of the Constitution, I believe Justice Kavanaugh is going to be a great Justice,” Carroll said about Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
“As a victim who never reported my own sexual assault, my heart hurts for every woman who has been or will be a victim in the future, who now feels like she won’t be believed or is too scared to even come forward because she saw that a political win is more important than your worth and dignity,” Carroll said about victims of assault, “You’ll be used by one party to attack the other, and the opposing party will refuse to believe you or refuse to act. Conservatives won, but survivors lost. And if, like me, you belong in both camps and are unable to put aside your feelings, you feel like an outsider to the ideological movement you belong in and a traitor to yourself.”
The University of Alabama’s chapter of URGE did not comment on the recent confirmation but before the confirmation they took to Twitter to show their disapproval.
“Guess what? We don’t need an FBI report to know what Kavanaugh has already shown us—he is wholly unfit to serve on the Supreme Court. The vote is tomorrow. Your Senators need to hear from you, #StopKavanaugh,” the Tweet read.
The University of Alabama College Republican’s also showed their feelings about Kavanaugh over their Twitter account. On the day of the confirmation, they retweeted a post from President Donald Trump that read “I applaud and congratulate the U.S. Senate for confirming our GREAT NOMINEE, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, to the United States Supreme Court. Later today, I will sign his Commission of Appointment, and he will be officially sworn in. Very exciting!”
Even students outside of political organizations are talking about the confirmation. Audrey Gallagher, a member of Alpha Omicron Pi said that after learning about the allegations she was inclined to support Kavanaugh. “I don’t think we should be believing all women just because they’re women,” she said. “That doesn’t make any sense. We should be looking at the evidence from both sides. In this case it seems like a false allegation brought about by the Democratic Party.”
Justice Kavanaugh was officially sworn in on Oct. 6, 2018 and was President Trump’s second Supreme Court appointment.
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