On the heels of sexual assault accusations against Brett Kavanaugh last week, it appears that Congress is no closer to appointing a Supreme Court justice to fill the seat left vacant by Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Christine Blasey Ford’s accusations arrived toward the end of the Senate’s routine confirmation hearings, which had been peppered by outbursts from both conservative and liberal senators vying to give Republicans more or less control within the judicial branch.

Ford alleged that Kavanaugh tried to rape her while the pair were in high school, according to The New Yorker. Both Kavanaugh and Trump denied the claims, with the latter tweeting Friday that Kavanaugh is “a fine man with an impeccable reputation.”

Already tense hearings, combined with the new accusations have pushed Senate Republicans and Democrats to blows once again. Democrats have accused Republicans of delaying Ford’s testimony before the Senate, while Republicans have said Democrats are just trying to keep Kavanaugh from being confirmed as they believe he should be.

Since Kavanaugh’s nomination, Republicans and Democrats alike have reached out to the public through social media to remind everyone why they are right and the other is wrong.

Americans, meanwhile, are forced to sit back and watch as our fate is sealed by politicians who are out for nothing but to hurt one another and satisfy their parties’ political agendas.

“The American people deserve answers, not a vote that is rammed through by Republicans. There is too much at stake,” the Democrats’ said in a Sept. 16 tweet.

Make no mistake — Ford’s claims are serious and merit an investigation. But wouldn’t Democrats — or Republicans, if we had a Democratic president — be saying this regardless?

In fact, that’s exactly what happened less than two years ago when Justice Neil Gorsuch was undergoing confirmation hearings. Democrats scorned by the Merrick Garland debacle publicly questioned Gorsuch’s integrity, but he was later confirmed anyway.

America is as divisive as ever and the thought of finding a justice nominee with bipartisan support is almost laughable. The two parties go out of their ways to slander one another in the media and paint negative pictures — Democrats are bleeding heart socialists, while Republicans are narrow-minded and money-hungry, for example it’s no wonder that Congress’s approval rating has fallen to about 17 percent, according to Gallup.

With this in mind, it is ridiculous how both parties pander to Americans when we have no say in who gets chosen anyway. Most ironic of all is Congress’s continued warnings that we need to vote for their party’s politicians in the midterm election to protect our democracy, when we really need protecting from the legislators themselves.

Short of amending the way that Supreme Court justices are chosen, there is little to be done to give Americans more say in the selection process. What we do have control over is who is running the confirmation hearings — supposedly with our best interests at heart.

Find out who your politicians are. Research new candidates. Vote in November’s election. By doing so, we can together bring desperately needed change to Washington and hopefully find individuals who genuinely care about our well-being — and aren’t just faking it to rile up opposing politicians.

Share