The power of a role model is undeniable. As we grow up, we base decisions on what our parents tell us, but mostly by what those around us are doing. We look for good and bad in people, and although it is not always that simple, we can tell right from wrong most of the time. A role model is defined as a person whose behavior, example, or success is or can be emulated by others, especially by younger people.

Role models are present everywhere: education, families, athletics, medicine, law. I believe that those who work their way to the top of systems, such as these, should be held to a higher moral standard than others. This is not to say mistakes are unacceptable. In fact, mistakes are part of the process. But some mistakes determine character more than others.

Judges, as the title says, are those who keep order by ensuring laws are followed and in some cases are finders of fact. They should be held to a higher moral standard as a role model for citizens of our country.  Especially for the children growing up here.

This past week, the Supreme Court has been in turmoil as Brett Kavanaugh is considered to fill Justice Anthony Kennedy’s space on the court. A chief justice is ultimately responsible for being in authority “over civil and criminal court cases with the goal of upholding, enforcing, and interpreting the law.” Likewise, judges presiding over local and state courts do the same.

In the highest court of the country, judges should be people we can look up to and trust to make sound moral and logical decisions. Kavanaugh is currently accused of sexual assault. These events would have taken place over thirty years ago, which is fair to consider, but if the allegations are true, should he be in the running for such a prestigious position of power?

The people he would stand beside as a Supreme Court justice are people who have fought tooth and nail to earn people’s respect and defend their own character. I am specifically speaking of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

At the time of her nomination, the male-saturated Senate was concerned by her work in women’s rights advocacy. When Ginsburg was considered for the Supreme Court in 1993, Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) claimed she needed to be judged as a “total person,” referring to her activist work for equal rights for women. The Senate essentially doubted her ability to conform to a role that was far less emotional than her advocacy work. In this year’s decision, we are questioning if the nominee sexually assaulted a woman. I see a difference that is insurmountable.

In a Washington Post article published October 1 of this year, Petula Dvorak asks us to “Imagine what the women of the Supreme Court — Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan — must be thinking as they watch the grueling and intellectually rigorous confirmation process they went through turn into a frat-house circus.”

This is not about man versus woman; this is about the integrity of the people leading our country. We must believe women and men who come forward with allegations of sexual assault. Furthermore, we must put pride and political agendas aside for the common good of our nation.

When the children of this nation are sitting at their dinner tables, watching the evening news with their parents, they may ask who the arguing man on the screen is.  They may ask why he is yelling and maybe even what he is fighting for. As a country filled with people aggressively fighting to increase the number of sexual assaults and harassments reported, we cannot allow a man accused of such harm fill one of the highest positions in the country. The women and men serving our country should be role models to the little eyes at the dinner table.

A bias is created in someone when they do something wrong and get away with it. We’ve all felt this; we’ve gotten away with something that we know is wrong: this could be as simple as speeding while driving. But as soon as we’ve done it once, it is easy to permit others to put their guilt away. It is easier to tell someone hurting another person it’s okay, if we have done it ourselves because we don’t want the guilt on our shoulders either. The judges of our towns, states and of our country should have as little of this bias as possible.

I am not asking for perfect people to stand before us with all the answers. Perfect people do not exist. But people who would never intentionally harm another with the motives of power and pride do exist. With a population of over 325 million people, the United States can do better.

Anna Hoffman can be reached at hoff0001@stthomas.edu
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