A PICTURE IS WORTH ... .

 Scanning yesterday’s Times, I encountered this arresting photo: 

No, this was not taken in Saudi Arabia. The caption reads, 

“Supporters of Judge Amy Comey Barrett prayed outside the Supreme Court on Monday, hours before she was quietly confirmed.”

That was a gut-punch. The President has every right to name a Catholic to the court, but really, is it likely that this very religious woman is going to be able to make decisions on constitutional issues involving abortion, consensual homosexual conduct, etc., given her past statements on those subjects? — statements that were consistent with the church doctrine to which she is so devoted and has openly championed? 

Can Justice Barrett make decisions that run contrary to her stated view that her legal career “is but a means to an end, … and that end is building the Kingdom of God”? 

I still remember  standing before the full bench of the Appellate Division of New York’s Supreme Court, taking my oath as a member of the bar. There was no pledge to devote my legal efforts to “building the Kingdom of God.”

The First Amendment commands that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” In one of Barrett’s so-called “superprecedents,” the Supreme Court ruled those words apply not only to the U.S. Congress, but to the states as well. Is there any doubt they also apply to Justices of the Supreme Court?

Barrett is certainly entitled to hold fast to her personal belief system, but can she really ignore it when confronted with the need to make decisions on issues that intersect with that system?

I never thought that was likely, or even possible.

Apparently the people kneeling on the steps of the Supreme Court don’t think so either.

What is the likelihood that I, along with the faithful in the photo, are wrong?

Very slim, I fear. 

The Dems avoided confronting this issue at Barrett’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings because of the blowback after Senator Diane Feinsteins’s “dogma” comment during Barrett’s Circuit Court confirmation hearings three years ago. 

But the NY Times photo just blew my mind. The issue is too important to ignore. I recognize it’s a political hot potato, but I don’t have to worry about being re-elected to anything.

Just one more reason to put Biden in the White House, flip the Senate, and pack the court. 

ASAP.

A bientôt.

…………………….

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