Sex and politics intersected in an explosive controversy that has gripped the United States as Professor Christine Blasey Ford gave evidence last Thursday to the United States Senate about a sexual assault perpetrated against her in the summer of 1982 by Judge Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, on the US Supreme Court.
The Republican-controlled Judiciary Committee of the US Senate initially refused to hear Professor Blasey Ford. However, public pressure forced the Judiciary Committee to reopen the hearing.
Political considerations dominate the appointment of judges in the United States. This is of inestimable value to political parties generally but moreso with respect to the U.S. Supreme Court, which stands at the pinnacle of one of the judicial branches of government. A liberal or conservative justice helps to shape the constitutional direction of the U.S. into a liberal or conservative path. A majority of judges of one or the other persuasion is a much-sought after political prize. The appointment of Judge Brett Kavanaugh will ensure a permanent conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court for decades into the future. It is this prospect, and the fear that women will lose the right of choice over their reproductive status, that has driven the magnitude of the controversy over the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh.
