How President Trump S Supreme Court Pick Got Confirmed with Sexual Assault Allegations

Abstract

This essay explores the sexual assault allegations of Circuit Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh from Dr. Christine Blasey-Ford in their United States Senate Judiciary Committee hearings. There will be a brief explanation of the event. The use of sociological perspectives will also be used to help explain Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation and the overt disinterest for Dr. Ford’s testimony.

How President Trump’s Supreme Court Pick Got

Confirmed with Sexual Assault Allegations

Testifying in front of the Senate was designated to get to the truth about Dr.

Ford’s accusation, that she was physically abused by Judge Kavanaugh in the 1980s, debased into one of the most abhorrent political displays in many years. The hearing between Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford was one of the most intense hearings since the Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill hearing in 1991. Sexual assault has become a subject that was rarely talked about a few years ago. But now, sexual assault victims are becoming brave and strong. They are using their voices to report their accusers. Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford testified September 27, 2018 in a very raw, emotional day of testimony. There were two very different accounts of what the truth actually was. What got this hearing the national attention it got was that Dr. Ford made the statement saying she thought Kavanaugh was going to rape her. This paper examines the allegation of sexual assault by Judge Kavanaugh on Dr. Ford.

Summary

Dr. Ford explained that she and Judge Kavanaugh attended a gathering when they were in high school in the 1980’s. She acknowledged that the people at the party had been drinking under the legal age. Ford said that the day of the party, she went to use a bathroom in the upstairs part of the house. As she got upstairs, she was pushed into a room by either Kavanaugh and Mark Judge, which was a friend of Kavanaugh. She was physically forced onto a bed by Kavanaugh. She was scared.

Ford then claims that Kavanaugh started to touch her, while trying to take off her clothes at the same time. She said he a hard time because she had a bathing suit on under her clothes, that was hard for him to maneuver around. As she tried to yell for help, Kavanaugh covered her mouth with his hands so no one could hear her yell. Ford then escaped when Judge drunkenly fell on top of both of them when they were on the bed. It was not until then that Ford was able to run out of the room, lock herself in a bathroom, and then escape the house.

This story came to light when Dr. Ford wrote a letter to a Democratic lawmaker in her home state of California claiming that when they were high school students, over thirty years ago, Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her. The lawmaker disregarded the letter until it was time for Kavanaugh to be confirmed to the Supreme Court. The letter was sent to Senator Dianne Feinstein of California in July 2018. Ford said that she intended to keep her identity and her story confidential. Both Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh testified in a live session, in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the entire world on September 27, 2018. As Dr. Ford gave her testimony, Republican senators sat quietly, while allowing prosecuting attorney from Arizona, Rachel Mitchell, to answer questions in their place. This was because So many people did not want the same types of comments from Senators like in the Anita Hill hearing. Some of the same Senators from that hearing were still on the same committee.

The Republican Senators (all men) stopped letting Ms. Mitchell question Dr. Ford and started speaking for themselves. These same Republican Senators let it be known that they thought the allegations were a “”conspiracy. They took up for Judge Kavanaugh. Once it was time for Judge Kavanaugh’s opening statement, he went off on Democrats. He claimed that they had looked for reasons for him not to be confirmed. The way he acted was not one that should have been confirmed to the Supreme Court. He was angry, showed that he lied, and looked very bias the entire time he spoke. He mentioned that he liked to drink, when in the beginning he said he did not partake in such activities. But in the end, Judge Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court.

Sociological Perspectives

Deviance. Deviance can be defined as an abuse of stabilized circumstance, developmental, or societal standards. What Judge Kavanaugh was accused of was deviant behavior. Society seeks to confine any discrepancy by using injunctions that assist to care for an organization of the control of a society. The injunctions for this instance was to stop Judge Kavanaugh from becoming a Supreme Court Justice. The allegations against Judge Kavanaugh would show Kavanaugh as a sexual deviant.

Values. Values can be defined as a civilization’s principle for knowing what is acceptable and impartial in humanity. The Senate Judiciary Committee disregarded the values a Supreme Court Justice should have for the Constitution. The values of a Supreme Court Justice should show fairness, accessibility, independence, integrity, impartiality, and responsiveness. Judge Kavanaugh did not show fairness in his opening statement going at the Democrats of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He showed his bias against the Senate Democrats, even to go as far as mention President Bill Clinton. Kavanaugh failed when it came to him showing that he had any values. Kavanaugh then gave deceptive answers while testifying. Supreme Court Justices must have impeccable adherence to moral and ethical principles. He misled Senators and lied about small things, like his drinking as a teenager and his temper. The question many people asked was if he lied about these minute things, what else will he lie about? Someone like this does not deserve to sit on a seat in the highest court of the land.

White Privilege. Many could say this case was another form of white privilege. White privilege can be defined as the advantages white people may be given just for being white. With the Senate Judiciary Committee being all white men and Judge Kavanaugh, a white man, being picked by the President, a white man, to sit in the vacant seat of the United States Supreme Court, which have majority white men, many knew the outcome with Kavanaugh being confirmed. The notion was that history would repeat itself and that Judge Kavanaugh would be confirmed. After all, Clarence Thomas was confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice after his controversial hearing. The fact also that the Senate Judiciary Committee wanted to rush him in showed their disregard for precedence. Back in 2016, President Obama had appointed Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. He never got to have a hearing in front of the Senate and therefore a vote was never cast on his confirmation, citing that there would not be a vote during an election year. With 2018 being an election year, the Senate made sure to rush Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination.

Sexism. Sexism was definitely used in this case. Sexism can be defined as chauvinistic certainty that glorifies one sex than the other. The Senate Republican men said that Judge Kavanaugh would be confirmed even with the allegations. They said there was not proof of the sexual assault and it happened years ago. The members were not going to look into much of the allegations. Even when a FBI investigation was granted, the White House limited the scope, meaning they chose who could and could not be interviewed. Since there was no “”concrete evidence, the Senate Republicans wanted to go through with the confirmation. More women came out with the same allegations, but since the Senate Republicans wanted to rush through the confirmation, they ignored hearing those testimonies in a hearing. This was not fair to Dr. Ford or the other women who bravely came forward to testify against Judge Kavanaugh.

Conflict Theory. Conflict theory can be defined as a theory that may view at civilization as a battle for confined wealth or material goods. Sociologists have always viewed the male species as the more authoritative class and women the lesser of the two classes. When gender comes into play, it was very evident that anything Dr. Ford said would be criticized. It also showed, when Judge Kavanaugh took the stand. His opening statement was not one that would have been considered normal. Dealing with gender equality, it has been difficult for women to advance higher than men. As the authoritative group, men constitute the basis for success and good fortune in society.

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