On Tuesday, Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett danced around land mines as she told Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California that she would decide on cases as they come before her and not a moment before that.
Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, wanted Barrett to tip her hand on how she would rule under various scenarios.
“Does the Constitution give the president of the United States the authority to unilaterally delay a general election under any circumstances? Does federal law?” Feinstein asked in one exchange.
Barrett replied that she would rule upon cases, not on speculation.
“If that question ever came before me, I would need to hear arguments from the litigants and read briefs and consult with my law clerks and talk to my colleagues and go through the opinion-writing process,” she said.
BARRETT: "If I give off-the-cuff answers then I would be basically a legal pundit and I do not think we want judges to be legal pundit. I think we want judges to approach cases thoughtfully and with an open mind." pic.twitter.com/Lgeogw7VnU
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) October 13, 2020
“I interpret the Constitution as a law,” she said, according to The New York Times. “The text is text, and I understand it to have the meaning that it had at the time people ratified it. It does not change over time, and it is not up to me to update it or infuse my own views into it.” Although in her opening statement she praised the influence of Justice Antonin Scalia upon her, she also pushed back against a comment from Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina about people labeling her a “female Scalia.”
Amy Coney Barrett says she’s an “originalist” like Scalia: “I interpret the Constitution as a law … and I understand it to have the meaning that it had at the time people ratified. That meaning doesn’t change over time and it’s not up to me to update it.” https://t.co/9PtXxuNKwW pic.twitter.com/7mpaATeSOn
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) October 13, 2020
Amy Coney Barrett to @SenFeinstein: "I can't pre-commit or say yes I'm going in with some agenda because I'm not."
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) October 13, 2020
"I have an agenda to stick to the rule of law and decide cases as they come." pic.twitter.com/R6Bo2xo1Hf
Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett: "Judges can't just wake up one day and say, I have an agenda, I like guns, I hate guns, I like abortion, I hate abortion, and walk in like a royal queen and impose their will on the world." pic.twitter.com/pt0M7oyA3L
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) October 13, 2020
read more here: https://www.westernjournal.com/amy-coney-barrett-turns-tables-feinsteins-wild-hypothetical-question
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