Professors, students, stock analysts watch Kavanaugh hearing
Sep 27, 2018, 7:00 PM | Updated: Sep 28, 2018, 7:35 am
SALT LAKE CITY – It’s the talk of the political scene, and political science professors at the University of Utah say this could be a teaching moment for years to come. Some teachers say all eyes in their department are glued to the testimony of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and his accuser Christine Blasey Ford.
“This is high drama,” says Professor Tim Chambless. “We haven’t had an issue like this in 27 years.”
Chambless believes this event will be talked about for a long time. He says it shows the bitter battle between two political parties over gaining a potential “swing vote” in the Supreme Court.
“We have two individuals who are absolutely certain about their viewpoint of what has happened. That means someone is not telling the truth. Someone may be lying,” Chambless says.
There was a wide array of reaction among the students on campus. One woman says she kept getting more and more frustrated at Republicans, who she says wouldn’t take the assault claims seriously.
She says, “I can’t believe we’re still there as a country.”
Another student believes senators from both parties already had their minds made up before the testimonies began. Still, he says it was a good thing for the country to see.
“I do think it’s good to be done in front of the country, in the sense that it’s a decision that affects all of us,” he says.
Stock analysts had expected to see a big drop in the number of trades happening while the testimony was going on. However, activity didn’t grind to a halt, like some people worried.
Representative Robert Spendlove says, “People were predicting that the volume would drop to potentially half of what it was yesterday. Looking at the volume, it was a little bit lower, but not significantly lower.”
Spendlove believes traders were more interested in the Federal Reserve raising interest rates and the Securities and Exchange Commission suing Elon Musk.
“Those are the things that markets, investors and traders are really focused on. The Kavanaugh hearing is probably viewed more like a sideshow to investors,” he adds.
