Questions for Amy Coney Barrett
Here are questions for Amy Coney Barrett at her Senate confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court, to help ascertain her moral and intellectual depth, and her capacity to effectively defend and properly interpret the Constitution and our other laws.
1) The Mueller Report has prepared various indictments regarding Trump, but Robert Mueller stated he could not proceed with the indictments because of a Justice Department policy of not indicting sitting presidents. That policy is based on an Office of Legal Counsel opinion. What is the logical and legal basis for the opinion? When was that opinion written? On whose orders? In what historical context? Is the opinion flawed? Is the ensuing policy invalid, unconstitutional? How is indicting a sitting president more distracting that impeachment? Is Attorney General Barr obstructing justice by enforcing the Justice Dept policy of not indicting sitting presidents?
2) You have stated that you are a “textualist”, an “originalist”, in other words a “strict constructionist” regarding the law, requiring following the text literally. Is that also your approach towards the Bible?
3) Does separation of church and state require the exclusion of monotheistic believers from the Supreme Court? From the presidency? Would it be all right for practicing Jews, Christians, or Muslims to be Supreme Court justices or presidents, when the Bible and the Koran command the violation of many human rights?
4) Why have you chosen to be a Catholic as opposed to a Protestant?
5) What do you think of the dogma of the “Infallibility of the Catholic Church”? How does that dogma square with the “Spanish Inquisition”, for example? How does it square with the thousands of recent cases of sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests and a Vatican cover-up?
6) Do you find the morality of the Bible superior to the morality of the Constitution and of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human rights?
7) How do you explain the contradiction between the Declaration of Independence’s assertion that all men are created equal with the unalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and the fact that we had slavery until the Civil War? Is it explained by the fact that the Bible institutionalized slavery (v. Moses’ laws and Jesus Christ’s only reference to slaves) and that Americans were Christian believers? Jesus said no more divorce. Why didn’t he say no more slavery?
8) How do you explain the history of wars, violence, and the violation of human rights by the three monotheistic religions?
9) Why is your focus on banning abortion and not on preventing unwanted pregnancies and on encouraging adoption?
10) Your rationale for banning abortions is to save the unborn. But banning abortions has never ended them, and resulted in many deaths of pregnant women having illegal abortions outside of hospitals. Where is your concern for saving the living?
11) Why are you against contraception? Does either the Old Testament or the New Testament assert that contraception is immoral?
12) The Bible is severely critical of adultery. Are you?
13) Jesus Christ is severely critical of hypocrites. Are you?
14) Where does the legitimacy of the Catholic Church and the Vatican come from?
15) Do you agree with the Catholic Church that women should not be priests, bishops, or popes? Explain.
16) Do you agree with the Catholic Church’s requirement that priests be celibate? Explain.
17) Why are you against the death penalty when the Bible is not against the death penalty? The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights is against the death penalty. Are you siding with the Declaration against the Bible?
18) Why is the Catholic Church against divorce? Are you against divorce?
19) Would it be all right for an atheist, a Jew, or a Muslim to be in the Vatican’s justice department?
20) Should attorneys general recuse themselves in all matters regarding the presidents who appointed them, in order to avoid even a remote appearance of conflict of interest? Should Attorney General Bill Barr recuse himself from all matters concerning President Trump? Should Barr allow any federal prosecutor to indict President Trump, disregarding the Office of Legal Counsel opinion, and allowing the Supreme Court to decide on the constitutionality of the Justice Department’s rule ensuing from the OLC opinion?
21) Where does the Constitution state that sitting presidents cannot be indicted?
22) What do you think of dictators? Of people who engage in voter suppression?
23) Attorney General William Barr expressed in a November 2019 speech at Notre Dame University that he would prefer the United States to be a Christian republic, not a secular state, asserting that Christian values are superior to secular values. Do you agree with him? Were you present at his speech?
24) Are presidential pardons valid only when there is no conflict of interest? Would it be unconstitutional for presidents to pardon themselves, their family members, their friends, and their business associates? How can the Constitution be interpreted as allowing presidents to pardon anyone when there is a conflict of interest? Does the Constitution not stand for equal justice for all? Was Bill Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich in exchange for a large contribution to the Clinton Foundation proper? Was it valid? Was it unconstitutional?
25) What do you think of putting migrants in cages?
26) What do you think of the Trump administration’s separating migrant children from their parents? Apart from copying the Nazis, do you feel that is a crime?
27) Did Mitch McConnell violate the Constitution’s provision for the Senate to “advise and consent” regarding presidential Supreme Court nominees, by refusing to hold a hearing on President Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland?
28) How do you explain that the god of monotheism has favorites? How do you explain that the god of the Old Testament only loves Jews, the god of the New Testament only loves Christians, and the god of the Koran only loves Muslims?
29) Will you release your college and law school transcripts? Do you think presidents should? Do you think all presidential candidates should, or be blocked from running?
30) Will you release your tax returns of the past ten years? Do you think all presidents should? Do you think all presidential candidates should, or be blocked from running?
31) Do you think all presidents and presidential candidates should list all their creditors, all their outstanding debts, and all debts incurred in the ten years prior to running for office? Will you list yours?
© Edward Sonnino 2020
October 12, 2020
