The United States Senate voted in a new Supreme Court Justice on October 6. After weeks of confirmation hearings, Justice Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed by a 50-48 majority in the Senate. This incredibly close margin is reflective of the fact that Justice Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court was one of the most controversial and debated nominations in the history of the United States.

This was largely due to a plurality of sexual assault allegations that came out against Justice Kavanaugh during his confirmation process. Some of these allegations are in reference to Kavanaugh’s actions when he was a teenager, which has elicited numerous reactions from students at the school.

“I was really upset knowing I have to live with him forever,” senior Olivia Kennett said. “I just think it’s awful that someone who hurt a woman, no matter how long ago, can live with it and have no remorse and believe it’s okay.”

Some students at the school did not take kindly to the fact that Justice Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court despite the presence of these allegations. These students believe that the allegations that came from women such as Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, Deborah Ramirez, and Julie Swetnick should have had more influence over Justice Kavanaugh’s confirmation process.

“To me, it feels like because [Kavanaugh] was confirmed, then people are validating it and making it sound okay,” Kennett said. “And because of all this stuff, I can’t walk alone or with a tight skirt or tight pants or shorts, like I’m the one who’s causing it.”

However, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) conducted an investigation into the validity of these allegations. The students who opposed Kavanaugh’s confirmation believe that this investigation was poorly executed and had less of an impact on the Senate confirmation vote than it should have.

“I believe that Dr. Ford wasn’t given a fair hearing,” senior Jack Hughes said. “The FBI investigation only lasted a week, and didn’t interview several key witnesses. I wish that her allegations were taken more seriously.”

Despite many students having similar reactions regarding Justice Kavanaugh’s confirmation to Kennett and Hughes, other students at the school believe that this particular Supreme Court confirmation was justifiable.

“I believe given what he was accused of, [the allegations] should have been taken seriously,” senior Paul Griffin said. “However, the charges [were] investigated and [Dr.] Ford herself was unwilling to provide any hard witnesses who would state that what she said was fact, and no one else spoke up, so given the lack of evidence, I believe the charges were dealt with properly.”

This support of his confirmation is largely due to the fact that there is no concrete evidence backing these allegations from Dr. Ford, Ramirez, and Swetnick. This group of students believes that these allegations against Kavanaugh should not have had much of any influence on his confirmation, and that the focus of the voting senators should have been elsewhere when deciding whether to confirm him or not.

“While I believe [the FBI investigation] should have lasted somewhat longer, I am skeptical that it would have produced anything of substance,” Griffin said. “No one was willing to come up in the time it was being conducted, which leads me to believe that waiting even longer would have done little to change the ultimate outcome.”

Justice Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the United States Supreme Court has caused a variety of reactions from students at the school. These reactions have mainly pertained to the sexual assault allegations against him. Given the duality of this issue, it has been polarizing both on a national and local scale.

All of that aside, these sexual assault allegations are not the only polarizing issue surrounding Justice Kavanaugh. There are other issues surrounding him that have sparked a variety of opinions from the American people. In general, however, and at the school especially, the validity of these sexual assault allegations have been the most commonly talked about issue. Whether this controversy will ever be resolved is in question, but regardless, the students of the school have spoken, voicing their various opinions on one of the most controversial political topics of their lifetime.

“The fact that the Supreme Court has become a political institution is disgusting,” Griffin said. “They should be the embodiment of logical, unemotional thinking, not a puppet serving a political master.”