ldsuttonjr Loc: ShangriLa

Barrett and the process


What are we to make of the confirmation hearings on Judge Amy Coney Barrett?

How do we judge the process?

Judge Barrett used the word “excruciating” to describe the nomination process and asked, “what sane person” would subject himself or herself to it.

Surely we are close to the point at which sane and qualified people say, “No thanks.”

Judge Barrett went on to say that she and her husband had real reservations about accepting the nomination, for they knew that their private lives, and even the lives of their children, would be subjected to extreme scrutiny and criticism and their faith would be caricatured.

And they were right.

Judge Barrett accepted the appointment, she said, because she wanted to serve the country and, presumably, because she thinks she has something to contribute to the court — originalism as applied by her.

One need not be a partisan to see that the process is excruciating, even for a person as organized and confident as Judge Barrett.

Why must this be so?

Why was the questioning by the senators so free of real questioning and so laden with pompous and condescending speeches? Why was the questioning so heavy with suspicion and accusation?

The tone of the questioning was: We know that you are guilty of something.

One senator, for example, asked the judge if she had ever committed an assault.

Will every nominee now be compelled to say that he or she did not stop beating his or her spouse because he or she never did abuse loved ones?

The assumption of the questioning is: We know that, at a minimum, you are guilty of bad faith.

The judge says she has no policy or political agenda and that she will follow the law and not her own personal views. But many senators have made it very clear they do not believe her.

This is the modern notion of a fair hearing: Go ahead and speak, but we will not listen or believe you.

Therefore, her critics tell us, Judge Barrett should withdraw or at least recuse herself from cases having to do with Obamacare or a contested p**********l e******n.

Oh, and we know she will also roll back high court decisions on privacy, including the right to a******n.

We know no such thing.

It is not the length of the hearings, or the many speeches and the many repetitions, that makes the hearings truly excruciating. It is the assumption of bad faith.

A nominee like Judge Barrett must be tested not only for endurance but also for her ability to absorb and deflect a fundamental insult: You are not the honest judge you seek to be, calling balls and strikes. You are a phony — a right-wing ideologue in mufti.

Or maybe something worse — a tool or mouthpiece who does not know it.

Using the assumption of bad faith as a moral foundation for the confirmation process makes it not only excruciating but also diminishing, even tawdry.

We are a long way from a Senate Judiciary Committee of dignity and deference.

We are a long way from a moment like the one during Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s confirmation hearings when conservative Republican Orrin Hatch told then-Judge Ginsburg, “I admire you.”

But we could get back to a serious process, based on goodwill and the probing of different judicial philosophies, if we wanted to.

We used to do better. We can and must do better, again.

Liberty Tree

This is nothing compared to what will happen if Democrats ever get full control. America will see evil and totalitarianism they have never experienced.

DaWg44

I agree but the take over by the liberal/l*****ts is going to be controlled by High Tech which is all in for them. All these r**ting, l**ting, crying, complaining fools are going to wake up & find out what they want does not matter anymore, they will be stuck w/ what Tech says they get.

Milosia

Too late for the democrats, we already have a totalitarian government !
Exacerbated the the Republican agenda. A 6 - 3 Supreme Court would seal the deal.

Be Afwaid, be vewy vewy afwaid!

Auntie Dee

You are SO CORRECT in pointing out the evil in these hearings! It should NOT happen like that...America DESERVES better than that!

The only saving grace is that the hearings said MUCH MORE about the questioners than it did about Judge Barrett!

roy

You will get something you never thought you would see if trump gets reelected, a dictorship, hopefully he doesn't have enough followers to put him back in.

ldsuttonjr Loc: ShangriLa

DELUSIONAL AGAIN!

Lonewolf

Well when you have a president who has an AG who's only job is to hide the bodies and crush his foes. Add to that fireing ever one who's job was oversite.
And appointment cabinet heads who's only qualification is blind loyalty
We're heading in the wrong direction .
When a retired marine General calls trump a moron we should listen.

Peewee Loc: San Antonio, TX

I watched a lot of it and she smiled a lot and seemed to enjoy running circles around the Dem senators. When they just spouted BS she sat and listened politely. No need for note taking when talking to them. This will all be over soon and she'll be a new SCOTUS associate justice. The only other advancement will be the first female Chief Justice. She young enough to have a real good chance at it. Roberts should be leaving soon. Can't have our Chief Justice going to Epstein's pedo island. That doesn't reflect well on the USA.

Peewee Loc: San Antonio, TX

Odd, I'm doing my happy dance. If Mark Taylor is correct, Trump gets two more picks durning the next four years. Roberts and not sure about the second one. That would make it 8 - 1. I can live with that.

Roberts has several problems 1. how he got his kids and 2. he went to Epstein's island. I'm just guessing but it was probably through child traffickers. That was Epstein's and Maxwell's main business. Maybe he went to pick two out. 3. taking the money is what will end his career, over a trillion dollars is what I'm hearing and closer to two. That's what having the deciding v**e is worth I guess, if it gives you the keys to the nation. Too bad Trump has all the data and evidence. When it's time, he'll use it. July the 4th has a nice ring to it.

If Barr, Durham, and Wray are still obstructing and d**gging their feet it'll be a good time to relace them, fresh horses may be needed. A new term is the best time to make sweeping changes. Maybe Goudy and Chaffetz has had enough rest and are ready to reenter the game and move things across the goal line and put some points on the board and make history. Then I could do another happy dance.

The House GOP has never been more united. We keep the oval, and add some more patriots in the Senate and we get two more conservative constitutional justices. A clean sweep! Most of the Dems are going to GITMO anyway, House and Senate. That's what you do with certifiable t*****rs. 2021 thru 2024 are going to be so awesome, and with special e******ns replacing vacant Dem seats to GOP, it'll change the world for a thousand years! Being evil just won't be profitable any longer. It'll have to move back into the shadows and have to wait for it's next chance.