Honestly, there is absolutely no reason I should have to write this piece. There is no reason an accused rapist should be considered for the Supreme Court. The second Brett Kavanaugh was accused, President Donald Trump should have revoked his nomination.
That did not happen, unfortunately, and instead here we are. In the country where the #MeToo movement was founded, we have an accused sexual predator being considered for the highest court in the United States while the president continues to defend him.
For those who are not aware of who Kavanaugh is, the Supreme Court nominee was chosen by Trump in July. Kavanaugh is a believer in the Second Amendment and religious freedom and tends to lean conservative in his rulings. Many Republicans see him as the final key in overturning Roe v. Wade and outlawing abortion.
However, Kavanaugh’s chance at the Supreme Court will (hopefully) be short lived after Christine Ford accused him of attempting to sexual assault her at a party when they were both in high school. Ford first accused him in an anonymous letter sent to a senator, and then spoke publicly about the incident in a article by the Washington Post. Kavanaugh is alleged to have pinned Ford to a bed and attempted to remove her clothes while a friend watched. A potential hearing on the incident is scheduled for next Monday, where both Kavanaugh and Ford are expected to testify.
Regardless of if the hearing occurs, my opinion on the matter remains the same. Kavanaugh should be revoked from the nomination, and Trump should pick someone new.
I feel very strongly that someone accused of sexual misconduct should not represent our country on the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh should have no say in issues regarding women’s sexual and reproductive rights. If he is appointed, this position will put him in the place to be able to decide laws regarding those freedoms.
There are two main arguments cited by Republicans in the struggle to keep Kavanaugh in the nomination. The first is that Kavanaugh is a good person, so it is therefore unlikely that he would commit such an act. Trump said in a press conference Tuesday that Kavanaugh is an ‘outstanding person’ who does not deserve these allegations. However, Ted Bundy and H.H. Holmes were also regarded publically as outstanding people, and look how well that turned out for those who believed them. How a person acts publically is no indication of whether or not they committed a crime.
The second argument is that if the allegations are true, Ford should have brought them up decades ago, not when Kavanaugh was about to be appointed to the Supreme Court. As proven in the recent #MeToo movement, women who come forward with accusations such as these face incredible backlash in the public. It is possible that she was too scared to come out and publicly accuse such an important figure in Washington before now. We should not blame her for waiting so long, and instead congratulate her on being brave enough to speak publicly about the trauma she went through.
I don’t see Kavanaugh having a family as being a reason we should ignore the allegation. I don’t see the fact that this will destroy his reputation as a reason to hush a person who claims to have suffered at his hands. Kavanaugh is accused of a crime, and if the allegation is true, he should immediately be taken out of consideration as a judge on the Supreme Court.
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