University of New Mexico students have shared their opinions on recent confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who recently received confirmation from the United States Senate.
Kavanaugh was sworn into the Supreme Court on Saturday, Oct. 7. Like the rest of the country, UNM students had a variety of opinions to share on the matter.
Grace Leishman said no one should be confirmed to the Supreme Court with such allegations, particularly because some of his friends corroborated the stories about his drunken behavior.
“The Brett Kavanaugh hearing mattered to me because I am a victim of sexual assault,” Leishman said. “So is my sister, so is my best friend and I was deeply disturbed by his behavior during the hearing.”
Emily, a UNM student, said Kavanaugh’s confirmation mattered to her and she followed the whole process, including the hearing. She said the concern is that Kavanaugh will move towards defunding programs like Planned Parenthood and others that support young women.
“I think this says a lot about rape culture in our society and how men are often prioritized over women — their views are taken (seriously) over a woman’s,” Emily said. “I think this will affect our society for years to come.”
Emily said she hopes that her fears are proven wrong and these negative impacts won't happen over the years to come.
Will Mehle said Kavanaugh should not have gotten nominated, adding the topic was very a divisive discussion.
“The sexual assaults are a big problem, but he is also just unfit to be on the court, in my opinion,” Mehle said. “Hopefully it mobilizes people for the midterms.”
Other students took a different stance on Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
According to Shawn Roark, this confirmation does matter particularly because of how long they serve. He said the way things panned out in Capitol Hill over the past few weeks was “unfortunate.”
“I think I have a good feeling about him. I trust the system and his reputation,” Roark said.
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Another student echoed Roark’s thoughts by saying he doesn’t agree with most students views because of the way he was raised.
“If it has always been innocent until proven guilty, and just like the timing of when people came out to say things…” the student said. “It kinda seems like (it was) a timing of the left side trying to make something happen so that they have a little bit more control in the Senate or maybe another seat.”
Many Democrats have said that, were they to regain control of the House or Senate, a new investigation would be opened up against Kavanaugh.
Megan Holmen is the assistant news editor at the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com, culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @megan_holmen.
