{"id":53927,"date":"2025-09-24T14:06:05","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T19:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/?p=53927"},"modified":"2025-10-14T16:19:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T21:19:25","slug":"tarleton-state-students-attend-event-featuring-justice-kavanaugh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/tarleton-state-students-attend-event-featuring-justice-kavanaugh\/","title":{"rendered":"Tarleton State Students Attend Event Featuring Justice Kavanaugh"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 Seven Tarleton State University Honors College students and Assistant Professor Dr. Karl Aho traveled to Waco recently for a conversation with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at McLennan Community College. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"US
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at McLennan Community College earlier this month. Photo courtesy of McLennan Community College.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kavanaugh spoke to a crowd of about 2,500 as a featured guest of MCC\u2019s Ken Starr Lecture Series. The event was moderated by MCC history professor and chair of the social and behavioral sciences division Ashley Cruseturner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of Tarleton State\u2019s attendees was junior elementary education major Anna Rasberry from Comanche.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPersonally, I have been fascinated with politics and how the governmental system functions for the last several years,\u201d she said. \u201cThis was an exceedingly special event to learn about the intricacies of the Supreme Court, how the judiciary branch views its role and what being a Supreme Court Justice looks like through the eyes of a family man.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tarleton State junior Alea Rogers, an English major from Weatherford, was impressed with Kavanaugh\u2019s explanation of the importance of the Supreme Court\u2019s place in government. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe pointed out that justices don’t have to be reelected. They are justices until they die or get impeached,\u201d she said. \u201cTherefore, they don’t have to garner the public’s attention; they can stand for what they believe is right. This element of the judicial branch of government is crucial. It ensures that the Supreme Court justices are voting for what they believe is in alignment with the Constitution and precedents from previous cases.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At one point in the evening, the 60-year-old Kavanaugh held up a worn copy of the U.S. Constitution he carries in his pocket and alluded to the court\u2019s role as that of an umpire. He admitted the court\u2019s decisions are met with criticism, but he said that comes with the territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow many times have you left a game and said, \u2018Well, our team lost, but didn\u2019t those umpires do a great job?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rasberry said Kavanaugh\u2019s appearance and a small group meeting with him were eye-openers for her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI walked away from the event with a significantly increased comprehension of how the members of the third branch of our government perform in and outside their occupation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Group
Seven Tarleton State Honors College students attended a Sept. 11 event at McLennan Community College featuring Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Tarleton State attendees were, from left, Anna Rasberry, Josalyn Franell, Alea Rogers, faculty adviser Dr. Karl Aho, Joaquin Rodriguez, Andrew Endruschat, Trey Steed and Sarah Fambro.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 Seven Tarleton State University Honors College students and Assistant Professor Dr. Karl Aho traveled to Waco recently for a conversation with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":53931,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":382,"footnotes":""},"categories":[382,422,423,425],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage","category-morestories","category-academics-research","category-campus-community"],"acf":{"image":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"priddle","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/author\/priddle-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2025\/09\/Brett-Kavanaugh-300x200.png","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["_Homepage<\/a>","_morestories<\/a>","Academics & Research<\/a>","Campus & Community<\/a>"],"unlinked":["_Homepage<\/span>","_morestories<\/span>","Academics & Research<\/span>","Campus & Community<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 7 months ago","modified":"Updated 6 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on September 24, 2025","modified":"Updated on October 14, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on September 24, 2025 2:06 pm","modified":"Updated on October 14, 2025 4:19 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53927"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54479,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53927\/revisions\/54479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}