WASHINGTON — Perhaps the most symbolic and telling moment of the Senate hearings on the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court came on Tuesday, when Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas asked about the notepad on the desk before Barrett. “Is there anything on it?” Cornyn asked.
In response, the 48-year-old smiled and held up the pad for the committee members to see. Other than the letterhead of the U.S. Senate, it was completely blank.
Cornyn found the lack of notes “impressive,” and the right seized on the notepad as a symbol of an eminently prepared nominee, a federal judge and former Notre Dame scholar who knows the law so well that notes were unnecessary. Her memory must have been pretty good too.
Her progressive critics, however, who are legion, saw something else.
For some, her refusal to take notes was disrespectful of the process, a sign that Republicans had known the fix was in from the start and were going through the motions of what Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., called “a sham” of a hearing.
Others saw the blank sheet as symbolic of Barrett’s inscrutability, her stubborn refusal to be drawn into a discussion of her beliefs. Republicans have argued that something they call the Ginsburg Rule — in reality, little more than an excuse — allows her to avoid answering questions about cases that might come before the court. And since the Supreme Court might rule on any number of issues, from the commerce clause to same-sex marriage, she could keep her bat safely on her shoulder as Democrats threw hard pitches her way.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/after-30-...233129354.html