Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) pushed back against the notion of President Donald Trump Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s faith preventing her from being an effective Supreme Court justice.
Host Joe Scarborough asked Hirono if Barrett can be a “devout” Christian “and still be an effective judge.”
The Hawaii lawmaker said Barrett’s “religion is immaterial,” adding what really matters is whether she can separate her “deeply-held views” on issues like abortion and LGBTQ rights.
“Do you have any concerns about her being a woman of faith, a devout woman of faith and getting in the way of her being able to do her duty, or do you believe people can actually be practicing Catholics and devout Christians and still be an effective judge?” Scarborough asked.
“Joe, her religion is immaterial,” Hirono replied. “The issue is whether she can separate her deeply held views on issues like abortion, LGBTQ rights, whether she can separate her deeply held views from her ability to be fair and objective as a justice sitting there for years making decisions that impact all of our lives, starting with the Affordable Care Act.”
Scarborough clarified, “So, your suggestion is that if she just interprets the law, based upon the law, which she has said that’s what she does if she can interpret the law based on that and not actually legislate from the bench, then you have no problem with her faith at all?”
“I have concerns about her willingness to, you know, to overturn Supreme Court precedent,” Hirono added. “And she’s written about that. And so, I would like to know what kind of factors would she apply in her determination that a previous Supreme Court decision was wrong. And so, Roe V wade is a previous Supreme Court decision. That’s a precedent. So, I would like to know because she has expressed a willingness to overturn precedent based on her own view of the Constitution. I think it is really important for the American people to understand what those parameters will be because there are a lot of Supreme Court precedents that she could overturn based on what she’s laid out for us.”
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