The ongoing dispute between the two parties’ concern over Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation was put to rest on October 6, 2018. There was reportedly no evidence found to support the accusations against Kavanaugh. Even though there was not enough substantial evidence to support whether or not Judge Kavanaugh committed acts of sexual misconduct, many people still feel very strongly about this issue. I set up interviews with the following people to get a sense on how opinions differ.

From October 17 to 31, I randomly chose five students to interview on Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

Did you see the Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford hearing? What did you think about each of their stories?

“I think it’s possible that Kavanaugh was guilty because he seemed suspicious. All in all he cried because he was overwhelmed by the accusations,” senior Trenton C. Smith said. “I believe Dr. Ford was sexually assaulted, however it may or may not have been Kavanaugh.”

Another student, senior Christopher Atwood, said “Kavanaugh was a little less reliable in terms of story. I don’t know much about Dr. Ford but I feel like Kavanaugh was hiding some things.”

Based on Kavanaugh’s outbursts, do you think this could have negatively impacted his reputation?

“The hearing showed there is some immaturity in Kavanaugh’s attitude,” Smith said. “That alone would have been a better argument for Kavanaugh to not be confirmed.”

“I think he was very unprofessional for his outbursts and anger towards the Senate members,” senior Julia Luck said.

Should the hearing been set up better? Any ideas how it should have been set up?

“People are making this issue into a partisan one, including Kavanaugh,” a 10th grade female, who wanted to remain anonymous, said

Smith shared the same opinion. “The hearing focused too much on allegations with little to no evidence and was also too partisan. The hearing could have been more controlled. There was a lot of yelling but not enough discussion.”

Leonard Leo from the Federalist Society, who was responsible for the list of candidates from which President Trump chose Kavanaugh from, has stated “You can throw a dart at the list and in my view you’d be fine.” Why wouldn’t Republicans pick another candidate?

“Republicans didn’t choose someone else because Kavanaugh supports their agenda,” Atwood said

“Republicans should have chosen someone else with a cleaner record, someone who wasn’t so far right,” Smith said. He believed that picking someone so far right could further divide the country.

Should citizens have more say and possibly the ability to vote on who can serve in the Supreme Court?

Both Atwood and Smith agree that there should be a change in how they are elected. ”I don’t believe we should be picking senators necessarily, but I do believe there should be some input from us,” Atwood said. “I believe there should be some change in how judiciaries are elected,” Smith said.

Should we limit term lengths for members of Congress and the Supreme Court?

“I think the amount of time they serve is fine as is,” the anonymous interviewee said. Smith agreed, “Judges should be serving life in the Supreme Court.”

Now that Kavanaugh is confirmed as a Supreme Court justice, there is a possibility that Roe v. Wade will be overturned. What is your opinion on that?

Luck believed that would be a step in the wrong direction and would negatively affect women. “Personally, I wouldn’t get an abortion, but there are people that have a reason to. The baby could endanger the mother or the baby could have a horrible disability,” she said.

The anonymous interviewee said, “There are already rules on abortion. I don’t like that he’s [Kavanaugh] going to make a decision for all women. Undoing the Roe v. Wade decision is going to reverse the progress that the United States has made.”

Any final thoughts?

“This reminds me a lot of the Anita Hill case,” the 10th grade female said. “I don’t in any way mean to discredit the good that has come from this trial, but I hate the notion of women getting hurt to empower others. I think it’s just time to believe and act. America has already been through this. There is no point in learning a lesson twice.”

Trenton C. Smith said he wasn’t surprised with Kavanaugh’s confirmation, is scared of the divisiveness of the United States, and scared of the reaction of people to the Kavanaugh confirmation on both parties.

“Change is scary,” Luck said. “Right now we’re going through a very progressive movement that might seem scary. Because change scares some people. It might need to slow down to be effective.”