There are many issues on which Congress needs to quickly act – spending, disaster relief, the debt ceiling, health care, taxes – yet one key issue that bubbles under the surface is the long-term concern of nominating and confirming judges to federal benches. While many groups unfairly demand litmus tests for judges, one senator recently slammed an accomplished mother of seven, who happens to also be a Christian, imposing an unconstitutional religious requirement on her during a confirmation hearing.
Ironically, a talking point of liberals is that political parties need to do a better job of recruiting women to run for office or to assume public positions of influence. The Women’s March in January made this one of their big goals (well, that and taxpayer-funded abortion).
Yet, when conservative women do rise through the ranks, sacrificing family time, soccer games, and dinner dates, they get publicly slammed for their beliefs.
Why are smart, thoughtful, accomplished, faith-filled women who are also conservative such a threat to liberals?
Mother of seven and Notre Dame law professor, Amy Coney Barrett, was nominated to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by President Trump, which means she needs to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. To Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., that means a prime opportunity to ridicule a woman who happens to adhere to her faith and be a nominee to a higher court.
This was her entire quote:
“Whatever a religion is, it has its own dogma. The law is totally different. And I think in your case, professor, when you read your speeches, the conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within you, and that’s of concern when you come to big issues that large numbers of people have fought for for years in this country.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., also claims to be a Catholic. She is an ardent abortion supporter who has been publicly called out by Catholic bishops for doing a horrible job of representing Catholicism. She’s also a friend of Sen. Feinstein. So, according to Sen. Feinstein, women of faith like Nancy Pelosi can be elevated to positions of authority, just not women who actually adhere to their faith.
An editorial in the Los Angeles Times even said that the senator crossed the line in her questioning of Barrett: “But she went too far in raising doubts about whether Barrett would allow her religious views to affect her rulings as a judge (particularly about abortion rights, Feinstein’s priority when it comes to judicial nominations).”
Rev. John Jenkins, the president of the University of Notre Dame, sent a letter to Sen. Feinstein in defense of Amy Barrett, essentially saying that the line of questioning was frightening: “It is chilling to hear from a United States Senator that this might now disqualify someone from service as a federal judge. I ask you and your colleagues to respect those in whom ‘dogma lives loudly’ − which is a condition we call faith.”
This line of questioning that Sen. Feinstein and her Democratic colleagues went down with Amy Barrett was shameful. Would they have done the same thing if the nominee was Jewish or Muslim?
Faith isn’t meant to be kept within the walls of a church or a synagogue. Faith − true faith − grips the heart and embodies the person who has accepted that great gift and has chosen to live it out in day-to-day life. Demanding faith be left at the door of one’s place of work is decidedly un-American, yet that is exactly what Sen. Feinstein did.
For Sen. Feinstein and others like her who are adamantly pro-abortion, the view that this supposed right of women needs to be upheld no matter what is a religion unto itself. And it is that religion that the senator deems a must-have for nominees to the judiciary.
Amy Barrett deserves to be confirmed. We need many more nominees like her who uphold the law, are constitutionalists, and adhere to their Christian faith.
Editor’s Note: A version of this article was published by The Washington Examiner. Click here to read it.