Sasse: Democrat Religious Attacks on Judicial Nominees ‘Not Just Depraved — It’s Dumb’

Monday on Hugh Hewitt’s nationally syndicated, Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) discussed the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s appointment to the Supreme Court and the potential for anti-Catholic bigotry from Senate Democrats.

Sasse reminded listeners of constitutional prohibitions against religious tests, which Democrats have ignored in recent judicial confirmations.

“It is a bizarre thing,” he said. “Our Constitution could not be clearer. I mean, first of all, the whole structure of the thing is built around universal human dignity as why we limit government. And the First Amendment has this big cluster of freedoms – speech, press, assembly, protest, and religion as the first one because none of the five make any sense or hold together if you don’t have all the others. And the Constitution explicitly says no religious test. And we’ve seen Democrats, I’ve been on the Judiciary Committee for three and a half years now. We’ve seen Democrats in each of the last four years attack nominees because of their religion.”

“Most of them have been Catholic,” Sasse continued. “And I led a charge on the Senate floor to rebuke Mazie Hirono and Kamala Harris for when they did this to a district judge nominee from Nebraska two years ago. They asked him if he would renounce his membership in the Knights of Columbus, which is just so laughable. It’s not just depraved. It’s dumb. And we took it to the Senate floor and rebuked them, and they didn’t even bother to come and defend it, because it was indefensible. They just think they can get away with it in these hearings. And I’m afraid that you’re right, Hugh, that America’s going to see a lot of that nonsense the next three or four weeks.”

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