Yesterday, the United States Senate voted to end Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings and move forward with the final confirmation vote. In case you missed the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings with Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nomination for the Supreme Court, here is a quick recap of why Kavanaugh is such a controversial pick, what’s happened so far, the detrimental effects if Kavanaugh is confirmed, and what you can do to stop it.
Two weeks ago, The Washington Post revealed allegations against Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault and attempted rape put forth by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. Kavanaugh denies the allegations and in response, Dr. Ford agreed to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Soon after, Deborah Ramirez, who went to Yale with Kavanaugh, came out with an allegation of sexual misconduct against him. He also denied this allegation. A couple days after that though, Julie Swetnick claimed that Kavanaugh and his friends would spike the drinks of girls and would then would line up outside a room where the girl was located, and they would “take turns.” Once again, Kavanaugh has denied these allegations.
Then came the Senate Judiciary Committee, and that was…. a lot. Both Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh testified. There is a lot to unpack about the hearings, but this video is a good overview of what went down.
But wait, there’s more! In a shocking twist of events, on September 28th, Senator Flake of Arizona cast his “yes” vote for the hearings to end and for the Senate Judiciary Committee to vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination as long as a one week FBI investigation was opened into the multiple allegations of wrongdoing against the Supreme Court nominee. This, as we know now, was short-lived as a result of President Trump severely limiting the scope of the FBI investigation and the committees’ recent vote to continue on with the Senate vote to officially appoint Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. That vote will be held today.
Kavanaugh’s appointment to the Supreme Court would endanger the rights of women and continue the precedent set by Trump that men don’t have to answer for their crimes against women. In this #metoo era, a person would think that, finally, men would have to pay for their actions when it comes to any form of sexual assault against women. However, the fact that Kavanaugh was even nominated, let alone almost confirmed, confirms that that’s not true. Yet, as of now, Kavanaugh has enough votes to obtain a lifetime appointment to the highest court in our government. Although you personally can’t vote, you can still potentially make a difference by calling your senators if they are planning to vote “yes”. You can find your Senators’ contact information here and the list of yes and no votes here. Stand up, make a change, and remember to vote this November!