Wednesday, September 30, 2020
OPINION
The Villanovan | 5
OPINION
The Supreme Court Hypocrisy of the Republican Senate Vivi Melkonian Staff Writer In the wake of the tragic death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, there has been growing controversy regarding the vacant seat on the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). The Trump Administration sparked conversation about Ginsburg’s replacement the day after she died. There is obvious unrest with the idea of Trump appointing a new justice because we are currently a mere five weeks out from the election, and his appointment would make the SCOTUS 6-3 conservative to liberal. Republican leaders and lawmakers are dead set on getting someone approved in the next few weeks. However, legislators like Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell, who have advocated for a SCOTUS appointment before the election, are going against their own words from years past. In 2016, Justice Antonin Scalia died, leaving an empty SCOTUS seat the February before the 2016 Election. On the Senate floor, Lindsey Graham blocked then President Obama’s SCOTUS nomination, and Merrick Garland claimed that it was too close to the election, and this choice should be left to the next president. Graham went on to say, “I want you to use my words against me. If there’s a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said let’s let the next president, whoever it might
Lindsey Graham was staunchly against appointing a new Supreme Court Justice in 2016. Courtesy of Forbes
be, make that nomination,” according to The New York Daily News. Again in 2018, Newsweek reported that Graham again came out to say that if there is a vacancy after the commencement of the Presidential Primaries, the approval and nomination process should not begin until the election is over. Now, in the days following Ginsburg’s death, Graham has come out to say the Senate should “proceed expeditiously” to replace Ginsburg. In a statement to Democrats in the house, Graham stated that due to party biases, this process would be inherently different for Republicans
than for Democrats, and therefore advised that the process of appointment and approval should happen as soon as possible. Graham’s buddy in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, is also receiving criticism this week for taking a similar stance, contradicting his own opinion from past years. In 2016, McConnell was also opposed to Obama appointing a new justice to the SCOTUS because, “The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.”
McConnell has spoken numerous times this week about the SCOTUS vacancy, and his message is clear: he made a vow to fulfill President Trump’s agenda, which includes continuing the nomination process with the timeline as is. This goes to show that for these legislators, the rules should only be applied and adjusted when it benefits their party. If parties were reversed in this situation, I have no doubt that Graham and McConnell would be using every tool they had to prevent a nomination from happening. The rules are the rules though, and it is completely within the power of the Senate to fill the vacancy upon receiving a nomination from President Trump, regardless of the fast-approaching election. For a SCOTUS nominee to be approved, he or she needs confirmation from the Senate by a simple majority, which is 51 votes in favor. Currently the Senate rests at 53 Republicans and 45 Democrats, and in the upcoming election, there are 35 seats up for grabs. Thus, the affiliations and positions of the senators and president are crucial. It is important now more than ever that we hold our leaders accountable and make sure our voices are heard. According to The Atlantic, there are 17 million new voters since the 2016 election. It’s up to us to fight for the future of the country we want to see. The University has done a great job raising voter awareness and has many resources for registration and information.
COVID-19 and the Next Generation of Villanovans Ava Lundell Staff Writer The Admissions Office and Blue Key Society began offering on-campus tours on Wednesday, Sept. 16, reemphasizing the many changes and challenges that COVID-19 has brought to almost every aspect of our daily lives as Villanovans, as well as our visions for the future. While we are all suffering and muddling through our own COVID-19 transitions, recent Blue Key activities have underscored the impact on high school students in the midst of one of the biggest transitions of their lives – moving from high school to college. 2020 has indeed been a crazy time for all of us, including our new freshmen classmates who not only had to finish their senior years online, but also had to start their college careers during the pandemic. Seniors in high school this year, however, are faced with the challenge of navigating the always stressful college decision process. As stressful as this process was for the Class of 2024, at least the college visits and dreaded application season were finished before the stayat-home orders of this past March changed our world. Remember the difficulties of choosing a college? Imagine going through the process this fall now that campus tours, information
sessions and face-to-face interactions with students and the wider college community have been so dramatically altered. Further, as we all work our way through this academic year, we can only guess how COVID-19 will impact next year. Will COVID-19 cases spike? Will social-distancing and online classes be the new normal? Will a vaccine miraculously solve all our problems? For some high school seniors, this uncertainty may prompt them to wonder, “Is it really worth committing to a campus experience at all?” However, despite the frustrating fact that reality is now overshadowed by the unknown, colleges (especially the University) are trying their best to ensure high school seniors have all the information and experience necessary to make an informed decision about what they want their futures to look like. The Admissions Office and Blue Key have made a range of alterations to tours to ensure the health and safety of the tour guides, prospective students, and the larger University community. One such change is that tours are now capped at one to two families per group to maintain social distancing, as well as to ensure prospective students can hear the tour guide through masks. Additionally, all visitors must wear a mask at all times, and entering buildings is strictly off-limits. Moreover, Villanova’s on-campus tours are more difficult to schedule online.
While obviously not ideal, I would argue that these new tour formats actually have some silver linings. For instance, capping tours at one to two families helps to create a more conversational and informal atmosphere with prospective students and their families. Tours can now be more tailored to the prospective student, and the pressure of asking questions in front of so many strangers is reduced. Additionally, the greater difficulty of scheduling tours could potentially encourage high schoolers to think more deliberately about whether they actually want to spend their time touring the
University, or if they are just doing it to check a metaphorical box. Perhaps the more personal tour format should not be exclusive to the current COVID-19 era. We should begin thinking about the lessons learned from this time in our life and how to incorporate some of them permanently in the post COVID-19 world. And remember, if you do see a tour on campus, be doubly sure to say “hello” and provide a warm welcome to our visitors. A mask is not a muzzle. You never know, a friendly word or wave could result in a new classmate next year.
Students gather at The Oreo. Courtesy of Sarah Jones
