With a 50-48 vote, the U.S. Senate confirmed Judge Brett Kavanaugh as the newest Supreme Court Justice Saturday, despite sexual assault allegations from multiple women and borderline belligerent, blatantly partisan behavior during the Senate hearing regarding the accusations. Two of these Senators are from North Carolina: Senator Thom Tillis and Senator Richard Burr. As an editorial staff, we believe that they were wrong to do so without adequately considering the allegations brought against Kavanaugh or the manner in which he conducted himself during the hearing.
Both Senator Tillis and Senator Burr expressed strong support for Kavanaugh before and after his confirmation vote Saturday. Senator Tillis referred to Kavanaugh as “one of the most eminently qualified individuals to be nominated to serve on the Supreme Court in recent memory.” Senator Burr said that Kavanaugh “has proven himself to be a fair, serious and qualified jurist” and went as far to say that the delays to the confirmation process were “unnecessary” and “marred by bitter personal attacks.”
While the allegations of sexual assault from Christine Blasey Ford, Deborah Ramirez and Julia Swetnick should have been enough to question Kavanaugh’s fitness for the Supreme Court Justice position, the Senate hearing revealed a side of Kavanaugh that confirmed he does not have the judgement or temperament for the job.
Although testifying during a Senate hearing in which he had been accused of sexual assault is likely to cause a significant amount of stress, this is no excuse for Kavanaugh’s aggressive, bullying behavior toward Senators. His testimony and answers contained angry outbursts, interruptions and attempts to dodge questions without giving a straightforward answer.
Like all judges, Supreme Court Justices are meant to be an impartial judicial voice, which Kavanaugh did not represent in his responses and statements during the Senate hearing two weeks ago.
In his opening statement, he referred to the delayed hearing as a “calculated and orchestrated political hit” that was a result from anger toward the 2016 Presidential election. With this and similar politically charged statements throughout the hearing, Kavanaugh has proved that he is incapable of holding a position on a court that is supposed to be above party politics.
As a Supreme Court Justice, Kavanaugh will be responsible for giving his thoughts and opinions on cases, some of which will include the political party that he has shown such serious contempt for in the past few weeks.
There is also a likelihood, as many who have come forward with statements regarding Kavanaugh’s testimony claim, that he was not completely truthful while answering questions under oath, specifically his drinking habits. Charles Ludington, a history professor at NC State and former Yale classmate of Kavanaugh, referred to the newly sworn in Supreme Court Justice as “a frequent drinker, a heavy drinker” in his statement released to The New York Times last Sunday.
With their votes of support for Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court Justice, Senators Tillis and Burr are saying that Kavanaugh’s conduct at the Senate hearing is not only acceptable behavior, but that members of the Supreme Court should not be held to a certain standard of conduct and impartiality.
As someone whose character and temperament has come under fire in recent weeks, Kavanaugh’s appointment to the Associate Justice position should have been considered more carefully and thoughtfully by our Senators. Not only were the allegations of sexual assault not adequately considered in this process by our Senators through careful deliberation, but neither was Kavanaugh’s disposition once these allegations came to light.
Only time will tell Kavanaugh’s record as a Supreme Court Justice. The Portland Press Herald stated in their editorial on Republican Maine Senator Susan Collins, who voted yes in support for Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court Justice, that she would be tied to Kavanaugh in every Supreme Court decision he votes in favor of that negatively impacts a group of Americans. Senators Tillis and Burr voted more predictably with their party, but they are no less to blame for choices to confirm and emphatically support Kavanaugh.
While our Senators’ votes of approval for Kavanaugh are not surprising, we question their devotion to representing the interest of North Carolinians over their political party. Our senators were so concerned with getting a Republican-nominated Supreme Court justice on the bench that they didn’t give his accusers’ allegations proper weight, they failed to see the ineligibility Kavanaugh’s politicized testimony caused him and, more importantly to the Senators themselves, they failed to see how their votes to confirm Kavanaugh will be inextricably tied to their own legacies for generations to come.
Don’t let the importance of the ballot box be lost. While Burr has stated he will not run for reelection when his term expires in 2022 and Tillis has not yet announced a decision on whether he’ll be running in the 2020 election, their votes on Kavanaugh illustrate just how important our representatives are in setting precedent for years to come.
This unsigned editorial is the opinion of Technician’s editorial board and is the responsibility of the editor-in-chief.
