Judge Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed as the 114th U.S. Supreme Court justice after several weeks of debate over a sexual assault claim from more than 30 years ago. The claim came from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her during a high school party.

Dr. Richard Waddel, professor of political science, said politically, the results are the same and it is no longer just about a Supreme Court justice seat.    

“What has happened is that this whole advice and consent role for the Senate has been so mangled by the democratic minority that it poised all other nominations especially at the supreme court and the lower levels of court,” Waddel said.

Dr. Larry Stratton, director of the Stover Center for Constitutional Studies and Moral Leadership, agrees with the idea that this confirmation has created concerns. Along with that, he believes the accuser, Ford, should have been brought to the forefront sooner rather than later.

“People are concerned about safe spaces, and the male-female relations in situations like that as well as the process,” Stratton said. “This issue should have been raised much earlier in the whole process.”

Waddell said he viewed this as a political attack by the democrats to try and regain political seats lost due to President Donald Trump’s election.

“Nobody has disputed his qualifications,” Waddell said. “He’s been on the federal circuit for 12 years; he’s written over 300 decisions that nobody talks about those because they are basically unimpeachable. Everything that has been going on in this search and destroy mission because he’s a conservative who’s seen by left by taking their liberal seat it has nothing to do.”

Although the battle between the democratic leaders and republican senators seems intense, this isn’t the first time a party has fought hard against a Supreme Court nomination.  

Robert Bork was nominated by President Ronald Reagan, but he was eventually denied by the Senate, which led them to nominate Justice Kennedy who was confirmed 97-0 and is now retiring.

Current Justice Clarence Thomas was also almost denied a seat due to accusations against him by Anita Hill. Just two years ago, the Senate would not hold a hearing for President Barack Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, of which Mitch McConnell said in 2016 was “the greatest achievement of his life.”

Stratton said because of the power of the Supreme Court, politicians lean on it to make decisions instead of trying to find a way to pass laws through the U.S. Congress and the Senate. Stratton also said he didn’t watch the debate but read the comments after because he was shocked by the “circus when you have distinguished people, a distinguished judge and distinguished professor discussing what they discussed on national television.”

Along with the shock value of the hearing, Justice Kennedy often split votes. For Stratton, he believes it will be interesting to replace the split vote.

“To some degree, it’s a fascinating game; to another degree it’s all very tragic because it’s so serious,” Stratton said.