Sorry, can’t comment on that
Watching Judge Barrett’s hearing takes me back to the time I was “interviewed” by my law school’s alumni magazine about my firm’s recruiting process. I put “interviewed” in quotes because it became pretty obvious pretty quickly that they weren’t looking to do a normal puff piece — no, they were looking to take me down, with gotcha questions like:
** What’s the best thing about your firm?
** What kind of feedback have you heard from past summer associates?
** What would you honestly say is the secret to getting an offer?
Of course I had to decline to answer any of those questions, because even trying to muddle my way through a half-answer would have been a disaster. The best thing about the firm? How many hours of work we wring out of the young lawyers to keep profits-per-partner as high as possible! Feedback from past summers? We’re a sweatshop — and racist, too! The secret to getting an offer? Don’t mention anything that makes it seem like you have any kind of a life outside the office!
So I don’t blame Judge Barrett for refusing to say whether or not Donald Trump can unilaterally move the election, or refuse to give up power, or shoot voters in the face with an AK-47 he borrowed from a felon (a NON-VIOLENT felon, silly!) who was of course entitled to buy a gun even though he absolutely should not be able to marry his boyfriend, work in a non-hostile workplace, or vote. Definitely not vote.
The hearings, like all hearings, are a farce. Just like judicial independence is a farce. We’re all human, we all have opinions, and of course we’re going to find a way to make the law fit our beliefs about right and wrong, no matter which side of the political aisle we’re on.
If being a judge didn’t mean getting to impose your worldview on everyone else, under penalty of fines or imprisonment, why the heck would anybody want the job? The whole point is to force society to conform to your preferences about the world, and become the closest thing to an oligarch we have in today’s quasi-democratic government.
You just need to say the magic words to get past the gatekeepers, and you’re literally set for life. Which is why, if I were in front of the Judicial Committee, I would simply be honest and assert my deepest belief in life, that Senators should be immune from prosecution no matter what crimes they commit, and receive a new servant child every year to abuse or employ however they see fit. Would any Senator vote against me, faced with the possibility of getting away with anything they could ever dream of doing? I think not.
But, alas, won’t be me. Too many skeletons in my closet. (Though I’ve been away from the office for so long, who knows if they’re still there. I miss my skeletons more than almost anything. The snacks, the skeletons, and my secretary. Probably in that order.)