Men or Lady Justice?: The Law Needs to Figure Out Whose Side It’s On

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Mobilus In Mobili

We Won’t Go Back https://flic.kr/p/ML2L5z

Franny Redpath, Guest Writer

Dr. Christine Blasey Ford first officially came forward concerning her allegations against Brett Kavanaugh on September 16th. In her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Ford said, “Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter, the uproarious laughter between the two and their having fun at my expense.” More than a month later, the accused is an official member of the highest court in the land. The Senate Committee, dominated by Republicans, voted Kavanaugh onto the Supreme Court despite the perfunctory FBI investigation ordered by the White House.

Kavanaugh’s testimony was rife with scrambled statements that further prove his illegitimacy to join the Supreme Court. The phrase “I like beer” is more than likely the most often quoted from his statement, and for good reason. He had no clear defense that thoroughly proved he was in any way innocent. However, with the perpetuated rape culture in America, it didn’t matter to the Republicans on the Senate committee whether he had committed this heinous act or not. What mattered to them was that they would have an anti-Roe vs Wade judge on the court. Dr. Ford’s testimony was inconsequential in their eyes, as it was a man’s word versus a woman’s.

For many Americans,  the Senate hearings created a sense of deja vu. In 1991, Anita Hill testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the nomination of Clarence Thomas, who despite the allegations brought against him by Hill still sits on the Supreme Court to this day. Thomas was a accused of multiple occurrences of sexual misconduct to Hill, who was his subordinate at the time.

Many people had hopes that Kavanaugh, unlike Thomas, would not escape the allegations against him because our society has changed and developed over the past thirty or so years. Also, due to the racism that is so rife in our country and justice system, many thought that Kavanaugh had less of a chance of escaping Dr. Ford’s allegations because in this case it was multiple white women accusing him and not one black woman, such as in the case of Anita Hill. Not to mention, social reform on the side of feminism has been picking up speed in the past few years, with the Me Too movement successfully hauling in over 200 perpetrators.

However, with all of this social reform, the justice system is still not on the side of the survivors. Harvey Weinstein, the accused serial rapist/Hollywood film producer who started it all with his six felony counts of sexual assault, is currently out on bail. These men who have been “derailed” by the movement may have seen setbacks to their careers, but many are already back in the spotlight a year later. Louis CK regularly performs stand up, Matt Lauer is planning for a reappearance on TV in the near future, and many other men are successfully moving on with their careers.

While social change is imperative for an evolving and functional society, the government needs to step up. America has countless men in office who have been accused of wrongful actions by survivors, and the number is growing. The justice system needs to do their job and not be afraid to prosecute these men, such as the likes of Kavanaugh.