With all of the chaos that is going on in American politics, it can be very tempting to simply ignore everything and preserve your sanity; however, now more than ever we must do everything we can to help us understand the social and political climate of today’s world so that we can work towards minimizing the injustices we find. If we selfishly decide to turn a blind eye to injustices, then we are equally as wrong as the perpetrators. Although Kavanaugh was allowed to join the Supreme Court despite the allegations of sexual assault and resistance from many Americans, this does not mean that we should back down. After seeing Kavanaugh’s success, it is easy to assume that our pleas and arguments don’t matter, but that couldn’t be farther than the truth. We should continue to stay up to date with everything that is going on and fight to make changes. His nomination is not the end of this fight for justice; this is only the beginning. If Kavanaugh is guilty, that means that a sexual abuser was given a platform to make decisions that have implications on Americans as well as millions of other people across the globe. We can’t sit idly by and watch this happen without protest.
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In 2018 alone, the Supreme court has decided upon dozens of cases that have had major implications on many people. One of the most well known Supreme Court cases of 2018 is President Trump’s infamous Travel Ban (Trump v. Hawaii); the court upheld the ban, ruling that he had the legal authority to secure the country’s borders and restrict immigration into the country from predominantly Muslim countries. They also voted to block a California law that would require Crisis Pregnancy Centers to provide women with information about how to end their pregnancies (National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra.) These are just two of the many decisions that Kavanaugh now has the authority to weigh in on since he was appointed a seat on the Supreme Court. If you are interested in reading a more detailed account of other decisions that have been made by the Supreme Court, please check out the New York Time’s article The Supreme Court’s Biggest Decisions in 2018 by Adam Liptak and Alicia Parlapiano.
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A person who has no respect for women or their rights to make decisions about their own bodies should not be allowed to make laws that determine what rights women are allowed to have in America. He has the potential to ruin progress that has been made regarding situations such as the funding of Planned Parenthood as well as accessibility to contraceptives and abortions.This is not just a women’s issue, though. This is an issue for all of America. If we ignore everything that is happening because we believe it isn’t going to change anything, we are allowing the injustices to continue to happen. We cannot take the easy way out. So that being said, while you may be tempted to avoid the chaos, it is so important that you take whatever steps that you can (while keeping your mental, physical, and emotional health intact) to stay conscious of the changes that are being made by our administration, as well as other organizations with potential to disrupt our way of life. So that being said, please pay attention to the Supreme Court and the policies that our government is making! You can check for updates on the Supreme Court on its official website.