I do not understand why the Senate conducts confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominees any more. They are so coached any more that nothing is ever learned from questioning them other than what a nominee’s children are doing. It is safe to say that we learned more about PJ, Tobin, and Squee than we did about Brett Kavanaugh’s actual judicial opinions.
The last three days of Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination hearing has taught us almost nothing more than that, if she needs to have an opinion on something, she first needs to consult almost everyone in the world before rendering said opinion. We also learned that she will not commit to recusing herself from any decision on the election without consulting her village either. Of course, we already know that she has been selected to help keep Trump in office.
The GOP is proud that she can credibly say that she has never consulted with the President about any issues. It means nothing. She has already been vetted by the Federalist Society. Every Republican judicial nominee is vetted by the Federalist Society.
I do not understand why the Democrats are still playing in this pool. I can only assume it is to continue trying to delay her nomination. To really convey her judicial viewpoints to the American people, the Dems should take a page from Al Franken during her nomination hearings in 2016. He knew he would get no substantive answers from her, so he just kept pressing on the stuff he knew she wouldn’t tell him. It was damning.
The best quote I have seen on this comes from The San Francisco Chronicle’s editorial board: Amy Coney Barrett’s elevation to the Supreme Court is proceeding with all the inevitability of a contagion.