The past few weeks have been crazy for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. The already unpopular nominee among young people and Democrats alike has faced a new wave of criticism and sexual assault allegations.
It started with one, but since the original accusation, two more women have come forward, accusing Kavanaugh of truly egregious sexual misconduct. Despite all of these allegations, there has not been one corroborating witness to any of the very serious claims. This is not to say the events in question did not happen (they absolutely may have), but we should at least consider and look at the credibility of the accusations from an objective lens.
[Click here for complete Kavanaugh coverage]
These new revelations have had a significant impact on the polls as well. Some of the most profound effects can be found among young people. According to an NPR/PBS poll conducted between Sept. 22-24, only 16 percent of young people (aged 18-29) now have a favorable view of Kavanaugh while 49 percent have an unfavorable view and 35 percent simply do not know.
The events, allegations, and fallout regarding Kavanaugh should be very striking to young people across the country like myself. These allegations were made based on an event that supposedly happened in high school. This just shows that what we do and the way we act now matters. This is especially true with the rise of technology, as well as the power and risks it presents.
Another crucial finding in the polls is that only 32 percent of young people are even following this undeniably critical story. This is in contrast to the 67 percent of people aged 60 or older following it closely. There is a full 35-percentage-point difference between the most and least engaged age demographics in the country. Unfortunately, it is not surprising to see that 18-to-29-year-olds are the least engaged, because that is what survey after survey finds.
A nomination to the Supreme Court, the most important court in the country, should have the attention of almost everybody in the country, especially young people who we are reminded time and time again of our future. Shouldn’t our leaders of the future care about the future of the highest court in the land? We should, but unfortunately, these findings clearly suggest many don’t.
Now separate from the entire question of Kavanaugh and this specific nomination, it is truly disappointing to see what the Supreme Court nomination process has turned into.
Throughout our history, a large number of our justices have had broad support among both congress as well as the public. This was even when their views lined up almost exclusively to one side of the political spectrum as a result of the way in which they read the Constitution. Some examples would be Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was confirmed in 1993 by a vote of 96-3, and Justice Antonin Scalia, who was confirmed in a vote of 98-0.
I do not want to be misinterpreted as saying the Senate should unanimously vote to confirm Kavanaugh. What I am saying is that ramming through a nomination, like Republicans have done and may be in the process of doing now, is not how it has been done in the past. It is not normal, and it sets up an unfortunate partisan precedent for the future of Supreme Court nominations. I think it’s also important to look at the origins of the change in the way federal court nominees are confirmed.
The era of getting confirmed unanimously is long over, and this is at least partly because of the “nuclear option” that then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., first used in 2013. For judicial confirmations other than the Supreme Court, Reid only needed 51 votes for confirmation instead of 60 votes. With that said, even bringing the “nuclear option’ to the table in the first place brings along inevitable partisan hackery from both sides as we have seen.
With all of the insanity going on around us, it is important that we keep a clear vision of what is truly important to the country. Even if you are not part of one of the groups I have talked about, maybe it is time that we all look at the state of our union, no matter what we believe, and look at ourselves honestly, in a time where almost nobody does, so we can all fulfill our civic duty to always do what is necessary to preserve this country as the best on earth.
Jack Elbaum is a high school student at Highland Park High School in Illinois.
