1. The first paragraph of a news article should answer the questions who, what, where and when. List the who, what, where and when of this news item. (NOTE: The remainder of a news article provides details on the why and/or how.)

2. a) How many protesters have been arrested for disrupting Brett Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation hearings?
b) Why did police have to temporarily block more spectators from viewing the hearings on Wednesday?

3. What is the protesters’ reason for continually disrupting the hearings? - Why do they want to shut down Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation hearings?

4. How did Jennifer Epps, head of the liberal Center for Popular Democracy Action, explain the protests?

5. What do you think is the goal of the protesters?

6. a) What is the purpose of Senate confirmation hearings for potential federal judges?
b) Do you think the Senators should vote against Kavanaugh based on these protesters' opposition?
c) How should protesters be addressed? Allow them to continue? Bar them from attending? …

7. President Obama nominated and the Senate confirmed two Supreme Court Justices - Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. Conservatives opposed the nomination of these two judges, but they did not shout down, disrupt, and otherwise impede the confirmation process. Why do you think conservatives do not use tactics to disrupt, break up, shut down, silence people/ideas with whom they disagree?

8. In order to form your own opinion on this issue, you must understand what the controversy over the nomination of a Supreme Court Justice is all about. Read the following three paragraphs that explain the difference in the opposing views on the role of a judge, as well as the “Background” below the questions:

• The term “judicial restraint” refers to the idea that the role of a judge is not to make policy or establish new legal rights, but to interpret the law as written in the United States Constitution or in statutes passed by the legislature. Because the will of the people is best expressed through legislative bodies, judges must strive to adhere to the law as written even if, at times, the law is insufficient to deal with certain circumstances or conflicts with the judge’s personal political views.
• “Judicial activism,” by contrast, refers to results-oriented judging, whereby a judge decides the outcome of a case based not on the law as written, but on his or her conception of what is just or fair. “Judicial activism” is often improperly confused with the power of “judicial review,” which is the power of the judiciary to invalidate statutes that are in conflict with the United States Constitution.
• Although the term “judicial restraint” is often associated with political conservatism, and “judicial activism” often associated with political liberalism, they are not properly categorized as such. “Judicial restraint” and “judicial activism” refer to the process or method a judge uses to reach a particular decision, not to the political ramifications of that decision. Political liberals and political conservatives are, at least theoretically, equally capable of exercising restraint on the bench. By the same token, judicial activists may use their authority to achieve either conservative or liberal results. As such, the terms “judicial restraint” and “judicial activism” are neither inherently “conservative” nor inherently “liberal.”
  From “A Primer on Judicial Restraint…” found at JudicialNetwork

Think about the role of a judge. Do you support the nomination of judges that practice judicial restrain or judicial activism? Explain your answer.

9. Read the Background and watch the videos under “Resources.” What type of judge is Brett Kavanaugh? Do you think he would make a good Supreme Court justice? Why or why not? Explain your answer.

10. a) What two adjectives would you use to describe the protesters? Explain your answers.
b) What two adjectives would you use to describe Judge Kavanaugh? Explain your answers.
c) What two adjectives would you use to describe the Democratic senators and the Republican senators in the hearings? Explain your answers.