Taylor Breig and Jennifer R Gardner

Staff Writers

Despite controversy, Brett Kavanaugh, was confirmed into Supreme Court on October 6th by a 50-48 senate vote. Many citizens voiced concerns of Kavanaugh’s confirmation into office due to the allegations of sexual assault made by a professor at Palo Alto University, Doctor Christine Blasey Ford. Because of the case, many citizens debated about how assault allegations should be handled .With a new Supreme Court Justice on the bench there is both excitement and concern raised on what Kavanaugh will do while on his term.

An area of concern for some is abortion, women’s’ rights, LGBTQIA+ rights, assault charges and accusations.

“Odds are he’s gonna be a conservative Supreme Court Justice but something that’s very common is for people to gauge it incorrectly,” AP government teacher Bryan Taylor said.

Taylor shared how Bush’s appointee John Roberts, considered conservative, was the man who saved Obamacare, and Barack Obama’s appointee Elaine Kagan turned out to be more conservative than first predicted.

“The big issue is Roe V Wade and abortion. I would not be shocked at all if Brett K votes to save Roe V Wade and does not overturn it. Supreme Court Justices, [are] always very hard to predict in that the seat actually changes their perspectives,” Taylor said.

Doctor Ford’s allegations caused multiple repercussions in recent times, including within the #Metoo movement.

“I think it would hurt the me too movement more because of the lack of details she’s able to provide. So now as justification for anybody else [to say] like ‘oh she’s making it up anybody can be accused’ and that’s gonna be the go-to for people who aren’t on the me too side.They’re just going to start making the argument or point to her as a reference that ‘anybody can say anything happened fifty years ago when I was in high school; offer minimal details and [that] you’re basically just gonna try and sabotage people’s lives. [So] I think it’ll be used to hurt that effort in the long run,” Taylor said.

Some may question Ford’s motives because of her timing.

“[Doctor Ford] obviously seems very credible, she seems like a mature person. I almost certainly doubt that she’s making it up. Some people think there’s a conspiratory theory that maybe she’s making it up to sabotage him [but] that’s almost certainly not true.” Taylor said.

A possible reason for suspicion can be linked to Ford’s refusal to give evidence for her case such as therapy notes, polygraph materials, and communications with the Washington Post and there only being one eyewitness, Mark Judge, who has already stated in a letter he wrote, that he does not recall the event nor has he seen Kavanaugh behave in such a way as described by Ford.The FBI has been unable to properly interview and investigate those in Ford’s life who may have known about her assault. Kavanaugh’s claim that he has never been heavily intoxicated, was contradicted by two of his former college roommates in an article by the Washington Post.The roommates claimed they can testify about Kavanaugh’s past drinking habits. Some however, have voiced rebuttals towards an article like this.

“If you go back in my life and talk [to] every single person that ever met me, some people are gonna say good things and some people are gonna say bad things. Brett Kavanaugh was a more of a heavy drinker than he ever admitted. I think he tried to downplay it [but] I think it was pretty obvious that he was a wild party boy.” Taylor said.

The most difficult thing about sexual assault cases is that sometimes the assault happened years or decades ago, which can be frustrating for both the victim who has had to live with this experience, for juries who may believe what the victim is saying but know there is little evidence to support it, and for the person on trial who might have forgotten the event making it harder for them to defend themselves.

“It sucks because if they don’t have that physical evidence anymore and then it happened it’s definitely way harder to accuse somebody. You just have to trust them. There’s not a way to be 100 percent sure when there’s no evidence physically,” senior Jules Recio said.

With the lack of evidence, this leaves room for bias and sometimes even harassment for the person who is bringing up the charges. This is especially prevalent in the workplace. According to a survey done by the National Public Radio Inc located on their website, it was found that 81% of women have experienced sexual harassment while at work.

“Now you have men that are assaulting women at work and they’re getting in trouble but not by a lot.The woman is still getting blamed and not believed and that’s what’s aggravating,” AP Spanish teacher Yolanda Faraklas said.

A common problem when people come forward with charges of sexual assault that are less recent or in some cases decades old is they are harder for people to judge.

“It’s a tough situation because it’s so long ago and there’s such a lack of details that it’s always gonna be a ‘he said she said’ scenario and it’s impossible for either side to prove their case,” Taylor said.

Although this case of accusation has brought a stall on the inauguration of Kavanaugh, all who have been affected in some way, can agree that this case brought a turning point into what is considered just and morally correct within the judicial system. Multiple cases of rape and sexual assault have gone untouched or the assaulter has gone free without repercussions.

“It can represent [us] in two ways. One could be that we let a potential molester [be] a judge while the poor victim gets nothing but backlash. The other way is that we allowed an induction of a Supreme Court judge to be stopped because of allegations that may or may not be true. Either way, America isn’t looking too good for itself,” junior Abigail Hardy said.

It is of the utmost importance to report as soon as any assault happens. People need to tell somebody, anybody, and not feel shame or fear for getting the help that he or she needs.

“It varies from person to person. It is our job to support assault victims as they try to heal. For some, that means sharing their story in a public setting, perhaps in an attempt to hold their assaulter accountable or to prevent others from becoming victims. For others, it is addressing the issue in a more private setting,” English and Literary magazine teacher Robert Beckwith said.