MARTINSBURG — Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va, visited Martinsburg High School Friday to teach a civics class about the U.S. Supreme Court nomination process.
Martinsburg High School’s principal, Trent Sherman, invited Capito to visit the school to teach the government course after he met her this fall.
Capito began her lecture by introducing herself to the students and providing them with some of her history. Capito, elected to the Senate in 2014, is the first West Virginia woman to serve in the Senate. She also served for 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“One of my responsibilities as a U.S. senator that’s very different from the House of Representatives is to advise and consent to the president on his judicial appointments and his executive appointments,” Capito said. “I see my job as my constitutional responsibility.”
Capito serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee; the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee; the Energy and Natural Resources Committee; the Environment and Public Works Committee and the Rules and Administration Committee, she said.
“We really do interesting stuff,” Capito said. “The Commerce Committee helps protect your privacy while you use social media.”
The way a senator becomes a member of a committee is by requesting to join, according to Capito. She looked for committees she thought would be impactful to the state.
She spoke in detail about the nomination process for the Supreme Court and used Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination as her key example.
The president nominated Kavanaugh, who had to submit to a background and character check by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“I think we had over 140,000 pages on just Brett Kavanaugh,”Capito said. “Every member wasn’t able to read that, so we have staff on both the Republican and Democrat sides that read through everything.”
Afterward, Kavanaugh came before the committee to publicly answer questions before answering private questions by senators, according to Capito. The private questioning is to protect more personal information, such as debt or classified information.
Once questioning is over then people testify as to why Kavanaugh should be appointed and why he shouldn’t be.
“Right before the committee was about to vote, new information came forward on Kavanaugh,” Capito said. “The committee stepped back to investigate further, then the FBI investigated.”
Kavanaugh was accused of high school-era sexual misconduct after Dr. Christine Blasey Ford sent a letter about the allegation to Democrats, according to The Associated Press. Democrats immediately called for a delay in a key committee vote and a Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who served on the closely divided panel said he was not comfortable voting on the nomination without first hearing from the accuser.
Ford and Kavanaugh both testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the FBI conducted a limited probe into credible allegations, according to AP reports.
Senators were required to go into a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility — where nothing can go in or out–to read information and formulate opinions, according to Capito.
After several rounds of voting, Kavanaugh was sworn in at the Supreme Court and then again at the White House, Capito said.
“That’s how it works,” Capito said. “The same thing would happen for other judges too. They’re recommended, they get background checks, there’s voting and then they’re sworn in.”
Having more voters on one side is great, but it doesn’t matter unless people vote, according to Capito.
After Capito’s lesson, she accepted questions from the students in the class. The most discussed question sked was Capito’s view on recreational and medicinal marijuana.
“I can agree with medical marijuana, but I do think there needs to be more research,” Capito said. “We need to move forward with research on if it’ll help and what are the side effects. For recreational marijuana, I’m a flat out no. I won’t vote for it.”
Capito explained that she sees recreational marijuana as a gateway drug.
