Saturday, October 6 marked a very important night for all Americans. Brett Kavanaugh, a controversial Supreme Court nominee made by President Trump, was confirmed in a 50-48 Senate majority.

All Republican senators voted in favor of Kavanaugh, except for Lisa Murkowski from Alaska. She decided not to vote because Steve Daines from Montana was unable to vote since he was attending his daughter’s wedding. Murkowski says she would have voted no and Daines planned to vote yes. The only Democratic senator to vote yes was Joe Manchin from West Virginia.

A major reason for the controversy surrounding Kavanaugh was the sexual assault allegations brought on by Christine Blasey Ford. But the debate started before that because Democratic senators didn’t agree with the nomination of such a conservative justice. The allegations that came out only added fuel to the dangerous fire on Capitol Hill.

Since Kavanaugh is a  conservative justice, it changes the balance of the court completely. The court now has five conservative justices and four liberal justices.

In an interview with Allison McGrimley, a social studies teacher at Portsmouth High School, she said “…[Anthony Kennedy] tended to be a more moderate swing vote, so he kind of fell in the middle. So, you had four more liberal-leaning judges and four conservative judges, so he was that swing vote, often going to both sides, whereas Brett Kavanaugh is very blatantly conservative. So, instead of having that swing vote in the middle, he now will lean on the more conservative side.”

Jody Campbell, the Baldwin County Clerk, when interviewed, described Kavanaugh as a very experienced and qualified conservative justice.

John Vendola, a Portsmouth resident who is very educated on the case said that Kavanaugh is definitely more conservative than Anthony Kennedy, the justice he is replacing. Vendola also described Kavanaugh as a constitutionalist and believes that Kavanaugh will fight to protect laws under the Constitution.

There has been a lot of debate about the way Kavanaugh will rule on major or hot topic cases. People have wondered if his sexual assault allegations will affect the way he rules on cases involving sexual assault.

McGrimley says his personal experience shouldn’t affect his neutral point of view. Vendola says it shouldn’t change the way he thinks, but his own experience may make him think deeper about the consequences of sexual assault.

Kavanaugh holds his seat on the court until retirement, so he has years to show citizens the way he will rule on cases. Citizens have a lot to watch and look forward to in the coming years.