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Amy Coney Barrett Insists SCOTUS Isn’t ‘a Bunch of Partisan Hacks’ — Twitter Roars Loudly

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The woman who replaced Ruth Bader-Ginsberg would like to look down on all of us and explain why it is that what we see as a “political court” just isn’t so, that it’s not politics so much as “judicial philosophy.”

The fact that a woman as smart as Amy Coney-Barrett thinks that people will buy her message is deeply disturbing. Is she that naive or is it that she is that condescending? After all, we’re talking about a woman whose appointment had to be the most political move made since… since McConnell did what he did to keep Garland off the SCOTUS.

But Coney-Barrett wants to persuade us, according to USA Today:

“My goal today is to convince you that this court is not comprised of a bunch of partisan hacks,” she told the guests at a Sunday celebration of the 30th anniversary of the opening of the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville.

“Judicial philosophies are not the same as political parties,” she said, noting that she identifies as an “originalist” and citing fellow Justice Stephen Breyer as an example of the other main school of thought, “pragmatism.”

No, they are not the same thing. But they are close enough that many people can’t discern a difference, so close that even some judges cannot see the difference. Coney-Barrett might be one of those judges because she cannot seem to figure out that only one side of the political spectrum, a small minority, wants to end abortion rights as she does.

“And here’s the thing: Sometimes, I don’t like the results of my decisions. But it’s not my job to decide cases based on the outcome I want.”

True. It is the same for any judge that happens to be following the law. But again, calling something a “philosophy” doesn’t elevate the decisions up to some higher plane that we commoners cannot understand. Perhaps that’s why the commoners on Twitter had some uncommon criticism.

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[email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak

Jason Miciak
meet the author

Jason Miciak is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is originally from Canada but grew up in the Pacific Northwest. He now enjoys life as a single dad raising a ridiculously-loved young girl on the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He is very much the dreamy mystic, a day without learning is a day not lived. He is passionate about his flower pots and studies philosophical science, religion, and non-mathematical principles of theoretical physics. Dogs, pizza, and love are proof that God exists. "Above all else, love one another."

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