By Steve Warren and Benjamin Gill
The confirmation hearing for President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett continues today with questioning from senators. Barrett already delivered her opening statement before the US Senate Judiciary Committee.
Barrett, 48, a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, was nominated by the president to replace the late Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died on Sept. 18.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is chairman over the hearings which began Monday, Oct. 12, and will continue each day this week starting at 9:00 am EDT until they conclude on Oct. 15.
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The American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary has completed its evaluation of the professional qualifications of Judge Amy Coney Barrett, rating her as “well qualified.”
The hearings are a hybrid of both in-person and virtual presence, where senators can ask questions. The Senate has done this for months to question witnesses due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Barrett is a favorite among conservatives for a couple of reasons. One, she’s relatively young and is a devout Catholic. Two, media reports about her past academic record of legal writings suggest a potential openness to overturning Roe v. Wade.
For those reasons, she’s also become a target of the Left. Still, Article Six of the United States Constitution forbids religious tests for government service: “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”
Barrett’s faith has already come under fire in previous confirmation hearings, and Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) said recently that she plans to zero in even more forcefully on Barrett’s Christian beliefs this time. Hirono even announced last week she doubts that Barrett’s “closely held (religious) views can be separated from her ability to make objective, fair decisions.”
Barrett is a mother of seven children. At just 48-years-old, Barrett holds promise for a potential decades-long term on the bench. She once clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia, taught law at Notre Dame, and has reported conservative views about protecting religious freedom.
As to her faith, Barrett is a part of the charismatic renewal movement within the Catholic Church and participates in a “covenant community” called People of Praise.
As CBN News reported, during a speech earlier this month at the FAMiLY LEADER Foundation’s “Faith in Leadership, America’s Need for Revival” in Des Moines, Iowa, Vice President Mike Pence criticized Democrats for targeting Barrett’s Christian faith.
He reminded the audience about Barrett’s confirmation hearing just two years ago, when she was nominated to the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. “At Judge Barrett’s confirmation hearing, the Democrat chairman of the Judiciary Committee criticized her Catholic faith, saying that quote, ‘the dogma lives loudly within you’. And Hollywood elites have already begun to criticize her and her family for their commitment to their faith,” the Vice President said.
“Well, I got news for the Democrats and the Hollywood elites. That dogma lives loudly in me. That dogma lives in hundreds of millions of Americans. And every American who cherishes faith has the right to live and work and worship according to the dictates of our faith and conscience enshrined in the Constitution of the United States,” Pence said to thunderous applause.
“The American people cherish the freedom of religion of every American and every faith and these attacks on Judge Barrett’s faith must stop!” he said.
A group of Christian intercessory prayer leaders gathered in front of the US Supreme Court building at 12:00 Noon Monday. The leaders prayed for God to bless Judge Amy Coney Barrett, her family, and the US Senate in the confirmation process.