The Committee
During her confirmation hearings this week, Judge Amy Coney Barrett conducted an intellectual assassination of her Democrat inquisitors whose questions were contentious and downright rank. The Democrat Senators opposing her nomination to the Supreme court hit her with everything except the kitchen sink. The Judicial Committee confirmation hearings, as we saw with now Justice Kavanaugh, is an abusive process to state the obvious.
To her credit, Judge Barrett was gracious, patient and astonishingly brilliant as she endured an inquisition that would have made at times, the Spanish one look like a picnic. Her answers were precise and followed the example set by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg during her confirmation years earlier, not to opine on cases pending or hypothetical. She did not have one note in front of her throughout the process. At times she resorted to her professorial roots, schooling the Democrats on case law time after time.
Her questioners (tormentors) could be broken, roughly into groups, there were the “mean girls”, Senators Harris, Hirono and Klobuchar. Then, of course the Senate fossils, Senators Feinstein, Blumenthal and Leahy, who struggled at times to look relevant. Naturally Candidate Biden had his unabashed acolytes, Senators Coons, Durbin and Booker. Finally, there was one certifiable nut, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.
How about some actual highlights of their performances?
Diane Feinstein, Ranking Member - didn’t make the mistake of mentioning her Catholic “dogma” again, as she did when the Judge was questioned during her appellant appointment hearing. But she did make, if nothing else, a solid case for term limits.
Patrick Leahy – his gravelly voice grated on listeners which distracted from his equally strange line of questions. Asked if a President can pardon himself and solicited an opinion about the pending Presidential emoluments clause case. Barrett refused to answer pursuant to the Ginsburg rule. Leahy said her answers were incompatible. Not.
Richard Blumenthal – faux Vietnam veteran from Connecticut, whose creditability as an honest broker of truth, ever since he was exposed, has been dubious. He asked about her views of global warming and President Trump’s debt and tax issues, as if it was relevant to her nomination. Suspected that Barrett is a judicial activist. Who dyes his hair?
Mazie Hirono – famous for saying “you men just need to shut up” during Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings. She actually asked her if she’s ever committed a sexual assault. You can’t make this up. She solidified her nickname, “Crazy Mazie”.
Amy Klobuchar – got schooled by the Judge, time after time, with an openly insulting series of questions that dripped with sarcasm to a point where the frustration in her voice was clearly audible. Judge Barrett swatted her leading questions like she was in a home run derby. Finally, wanted to know if she was a political shill and bizarrely asked whether Barrett or her family have voted by mail?!
Kamala Harris – grandstanding from her Senate office because she didn’t feel that the hearing room was sanitary enough, demonstrated that she is one of the frontrunners for “most disliked Senator on the committee”. Among other things, she delivered a campaign speech about the voting rights act. Implied that Barrett was a racist, against voting rights, believed in voter suppression, climate change and asked if Covid-19 was infectious. A bizarre display of pure partisan politics.
Cory Booker – asked her if she condemns “white supremacy’ knowing she has two adopted black children who were in the hearing room. “Spartacus” (his earned nickname from the Kavanaugh hearings) wins the nomination for best overacting award, as his voice catches during his question. Stunning and yet incredibly stupid.
Dick Durbin – his sole mission was to “trip up” the Judge who consistently proved that Durbin was not in her intellectual league. He made a mess of explaining ‘originalism’ as a judicial concept. Fortunately, since the Judge is also a law professor, she was able to give him a clear idea of the concept and he passed the class. Barely.
Chris Coons – sounded like he was trying to talk himself into voting against her on the basis of her expected court votes, not her qualifications. He succeeded. He announced he would vote against Barrett. Really?
Sheldon Whitehouse – the undisputed “King of the foam charts, graphs and conspiracy theories”, railed about “dark’ money promoting the Judge’s nomination. Without a doubt his lunacy knew no bounds. In a class by himself.
Finally, it was left to the consistently memorable and folksy Republican Senator John Kennedy from Louisiana, who batted clean-up as the last committee questioner, to make sure she loved warm puppies, wasn’t a racist, wanted clean air and water, believed in science and supported children, unlike his vituperative Democrat colleagues.
Americans needs to remember that Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who everyone knew was moderate to liberal, got confirmed by the Senate 96 -3, because she was a brilliant legal thinker. Amy Coney Barrett proved this week that she is in that league without a doubt.