The Adult in the Room

Have you been watching the confirmation hearings conducted by the Senate’s Judiciary Committee? If you haven’t you should watch them today. You will see something truly remarkable. You will see how a wise, caring, patient adult handles a collection of spoiled, ignorant, petulant children. One woman, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, perhaps the most qualified nominee for the Supreme Court in my lifetime, responds to the foolishness of her interrogators with grace and wisdom and truth. I suppose we should expect this from a woman who, along with her husband, is raising seven children. And what a joy it was to see her children seated behind her in that senate hearing room, supporting their mother with their presence, and doing so with far more poise than that displayed by many of the senators.

I suspect the Democrat members of the committee hope their constituents are not watching the hearings, because compared to the nominee, they looked very silly indeed. Each of the Democrats began with a long, highly politicized statement which was read from papers prepared by staffers. Each then asked one inappropriate or irrelevant question after another, which also had to be read from notes because the Senator didn’t seem to know what kind of questions he or she should ask someone nominated to be a Justice on the Supreme Court. 

The most telling moment of yesterday’s hearing occurred when Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) asked Judge Barrett to hold up the notepad on the table in front of her. She held up a small pad of paper, completely blank, embossed at the top of each page with the words, “United States Senate” — a fitting souvenir of her visit to that august body. Yes, unlike the senatorial inquisitors who were supported by stacks of papers written by others, she had no need of notes because she knows of what she speaks. The appropriately blank U.S. Senate pad perhaps tells us too much about the Senate itself. 

 

Judge Barrett is also a faithful, loving Christian, who no doubt accepts the Word and promise of Jesus Christ:

"When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what your defense will be or about what you are to say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say” [Lk 12:11-12].

Interestingly, the Democrat Senators who obviously despise Judge Barrett, asked almost nothing about her qualifications, preferring instead to paint her as a political operative, as a conservative who will simply do the bidding of President Trump. Their questions -- when they actually got around to asking a question -- were focused on political issues, and rarely dealt with the role of a Supreme Court Justice.

Because she is such a remarkable and accomplished woman, and because she is a woman of faith, the Democrats have been forced to avoid the kind of public, personal attacks usually inflicted on nominees. For that they must rely on their media surrogates. One thing we know for certain, the Democrat Party has become the party of anti-Catholicism. No longer discretely covert, they now openly ridicule any Catholic who actually believes in the teachings of the Church. Of course, the same applies to any Christian who accepts the teachings of Jesus Christ and lives them.

God bless Judge Barrett.