“When you tell somebody that they’re too Catholic to be on the bench, when you tell them they’re going to be a Catholic judge, not an American judge, that’s bigotry,” the Missouri Republican said. “The pattern and practice of bigotry from members of this committee must be stopped, and I would expect that it be renounced.”
But the only members who spent significant time on Barrett’s faith during the hearings on Monday were the Republicans. Hawley at one point even suggested that a key court precedent related to Roe v. Wade should be off-limits, deeming it a veiled attempt to discuss her religion.
Committee Democrats see Barrett’s faith as a third rail, to be avoided at all costs, especially after missteps during her confirmation hearing for a federal appeals court three years ago. For them, Monday’s hearing was not even so much about her record as it was about the upcoming election, GOP hypocrisy and the Affordable Care Act.
Why then did the Republicans keep referring to attacks on her religion? One key reason is that conservatives already feel emboldened about the Supreme Court’s direction when it comes to religious liberty.
Last term, the court moved decisively to the right on the issue, allowing more religion in public life. And if Barrett is confirmed quickly, she will hear a major religious liberty case on November 4 brought by a Catholic foster agency that was denied a government contract because it refused to work with same-sex couples. The agency, Catholic Social Services, sued under the First Amendment. Religious conservatives want to use the case to overturn major precedent and loosen restrictions on the use of taxpayer funds to support religion.
But there is another reason for Hawley’s comments that goes to the confirmation process in general.
“Supreme Court confirmation hearings are political theater, especially on the first day, when senators make their opening statements,” said Jonathan H. Adler, a professor at Case Western Reserve University. “Democrats are obsessing about the ACA, and Republicans are preemptively striking Democrats for attacking Judge Barrett’s religion.”
Hawley’s complaints were rooted in an exchange in 2017, when Barrett appeared before the committee for her confirmation to the lower court.
Back then, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, pressed Barrett on her writing about faith and the law during the years she spent as a professor at the University of Notre Dame. In a tense exchange, the senator questioned whether the judicial nominee could separate her Catholic views from her legal opinions.
“The conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within you,” Feinstein said. “And that’s of concern when you come to big issues that large numbers of people have fought for years in this country.”
The exchange invigorated and emboldened religious conservatives, who said Barrett had been a victim of anti-Catholic bias. It also put Barrett on the conservative map, and soon after, supporters of religious liberty began pressing for her to be added to President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court short list if a vacancy were to arise.
On Monday, Republicans seized on that exchange.
“There’s no religious test to serve on the Supreme Court. Why? Because the Constitution says so,” said Sen. John Cornyn of Texas.
“This committee has acted like it’s the job of the committee to delve into people’s religious communities. That’s nuts,” said Nebraska’s Sen. Ben Sasse. “Because in this committee, and in this Congress, and in this constitutional structure, religious liberty is the basic truth, and whatever you or I or Judge Barrett believe about God isn’t any of the government’s business.”
Hawley also talked about questions that Democratic Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii had asked Brian Buescher, who was up for a seat on the US District Court for the District of Nebraska in 2018, about his membership in the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization founded in 1882.
“For those watching at home, that’s right, you heard me correctly,” Hawley said. “The Democratic nominee for vice president of the United States, who has questioned past nominees who’ve come before this committee about their membership in Catholic fraternal organizations.”
As for Barrett, she brought up her religion herself, never shying from the topic.
“I believe in the power of prayer,” she told the senators, “and it has been uplifting to hear that so many people are praying for me.”
Griswold v. Connecticut
Throughout the day, the focus on Democrats’ part was largely the future of the Affordable Care Act, a case that will be heard by the Supreme Court — and maybe Barrett — a week after the election. And while the they talked about the possibility of invalidating the entire sprawling law amid the pandemic, there are more narrow ways the court could rule, by severing more controversial portions but allowing other provisions to stand.
Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, agreed that religious liberty is “foundational to our civics and our republic.” He said his side of the dais would focus not on Barrett’s faith, but on what’s she written and what she has said. He expressed particular concern about the possibility that the court’s new conservative majority might overturn long-settled precedent. He mentioned a 1965 case called Griswold v. Connecticut establishing that married couples have a right to obtain and use contraception in the privacy of their own homes as well as Roe v. Wade, decided in 1973, which legalized abortion nationwide.
His comment triggered a fierce reaction from Hawley. “I just heard my colleague, Sen. Coons, make a reference to an old case, the Griswold case, which I can only assume is another hit at Judge Barrett’s religious faith, referring to Catholic doctrinal beliefs,” he said.
“This is the kind of thing I’m talking about, and this is the sort of attacks that must stop,” Hawley concluded.
Griswold comes up in most every confirmation hearing because its legal underpinnings concerning the right to privacy surfaced again in Roe v. Wade. Roe is almost 50 years old, but it remains a central focus of the fight to confirm justices to the Supreme Court, and is usually discussed in the context of Griswold in these hearings.
In fact, during the 2017 Barrett hearing, Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana asked her about it.
“Do you think there’s a right to privacy in the Constitution? I mean, when Griswold came down and you read it, what did you think? Did you say, ‘This is a well-reasoned opinion, and I agree with it?’ ” he asked.
Coons declined to respond directly to Hawley’s attacks.
“I’m not going to help Sen. Hawley run for president,” Coons said. “I mean my focus today was on the concerns that I’m hearing from Delawarians, which was that there is a Supreme Court case a week after the election where the Affordable Care Act is at risk.”
Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said: “Senate Republicans are focusing on a false ruse to try to distract from the fact that health care access for millions and other civil rights are at stake with this nomination.”
1 Habit Press Launching the Largest Book Ever Published on Entrepreneurial Habits, Featuring 150 Contributors. – Book Publishing Industry Today – EIN Presswire
“Herd immunity is a concept used for vaccination, in which a population can be protected from a certain virus if a threshold of vaccination is reached”, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), told the agency’s regular press briefing in Geneva.
But, he explained, it is achieved by protecting people from the virus, “not by exposing them to it”.
“Never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy for responding to an outbreak”, the WHO chief said, calling it “scientifically and ethically problematic”.
To obtain herd immunity from measles, for example, about 95 per cent of the population must be vaccinated. However, according to WHO estimates, less than 10 per cent of the global population has any immunity to the coronavirus, leaving the “vast majority” of the world susceptible.
“Letting the virus circulate unchecked, therefore, means allowing unnecessary infections, suffering and death”, Tedros said.
Tedros noted that in recent days, the world was seeing the most rapid rise in infections during the course of the whole pandemic, especially in Europe and the Americas.
“Each of the last four days has been the highest number of cases reported so far”, he stated. “Many cities and countries are also reporting an increase in hospitalizations and intensive care bed occupancy”.
The WHO chief also reminded that, as an “uneven pandemic”, every country is responding differently, and stressed that outbreaks can be controlled using targeted measures, such as by preventing amplifying events, isolation and testing.
“It’s not a choice between letting the virus run free and shutting down our societies” he declared.
Again: ‘No silver bullet’
WHO noted that many have harnessed their stay-at-home time to develop plans, train health workers, increase testing time and capacity, and improve patient care.
And digital technologies are helping to make tried-and-tested public health tools even more effective, such as better smartphone apps to support contact tracing efforts.
“We well understand the frustration that many people, communities and Governments are feeling as the pandemic drags on, and as cases rise again”, Tedros said.
However, there are “no shortcuts, and no silver bullets”, he added.
Only a comprehensive approach, using every tool in the toolbox, has proven effective.
“My message to every country now weighing up its options is: you can do it too.”
Pre-schools at Walvis Bay started their new school term with a surprise visit from the Playtime Namibia group that donated booklets to various centres at the town.
Initially, the group planned to hand over the booklets to 32 schools but donated to 23 schools to raise awareness of the Bible. Six hundred pupils benefited from the book donation.
The other schools earmarked to receive donations only have a few children attending, as parents are keeping their little ones at home. They will receive their booklets next year, which includes a variety of content including Bible stories, colouring activities and puzzles, among others, that stimulate the mind “Early childhood materials may solely emphasise how Jesus is their friend. It creates a warm fuzzy feeling and builds affection for Jesus. They will build the foundation for spiritual wisdom. They will learn to admire and gain respect and the fear of God.” said one of the Playtime coaches, Steven Damaseb.
Playtime Namibia offers multi-disciplinary sports training programmes in soccer, cricket and athletics for primary and secondary school pupils. The programme aims at engaging parents and teachers in supporting their children’s mobility and cognitive learning by using simple sports practices and games in a safe environment. Training is offered by ex-football players and coaches including Sandro de Gouveia, a well-known ex-Brave Warriors player, Eliphas Shivute and Alex Kirov.
European Union regulators are reportedly compiling a list of Big Tech companies including Apple, Facebook and Google, which will be hit with regulations designed to reduce their power, according to The Financial Times.
Companies placed on the European Union’s (EU) so-called “hit list” would face tougher regulation than their smaller counterparts, forcing them to be more transparent and to share more data, the Financial Times reported Sunday. Market share and number of users are being used to determine which tech companies make the list.
Another person with knowledge of the list told the FT that the outsized market share of certain tech companies “is not good for competition.”
Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks via video conference during the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law hearing on Online Platforms and Market Power on July 29 in Washington, D.C. (Graeme Jennings-Pool/Getty Images)
The EU will seek measures that go beyond fines, according to FT. The EU might move to break up the companies on the list in some cases and force companies to share critical data to rivals in other cases.
In the past, EU regulators have sought to punish Big Tech without full investigation or findings that companies have broken the law, according to FT. The “hit list” is the latest effort to give regulators more sweeping power in regulating Big Tech.
Meanwhile, U.S. lawmakers released a report on Oct. 6 condemning Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google for abusing their monopoly power. Big Tech companies should undergo restructuring and existing U.S. antitrust laws should be modified, the report said.
“These firms typically run the marketplace while also competing in it — a position that enables them to write one set of rules for others, while they play by another, or to engage in a form of their own private quasi regulation that is unaccountable to anyone but themselves,” the House report said.
The European Commission, which implements EU policy, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].
… and promises to make farming more environmentally friendly. Here … European Union, while working to address persistent imbalances in agricultural … The U.S. and Europe should work together to … does not specifically mention organic agriculture. A Biden presidency …
From the publication of “Wolf Hall” in 2009 until the release of “The Mirror and the Light” last March, devotees of Hilary Mantel’s portrait of Tudor statesman Thomas Cromwell always had more to look forward to. Now, her acclaimed trilogy complete, fans must go elsewhere for historical novels with the complex characters, luminous descriptions and period authenticity that are the trademarks of Mantel’s fiction. One of these excellent, ambitious novels might be just what you’re looking for.
Ford Madox Ford’s “The Fifth Queen” (1906) concerns Catherine Howard, the unfortunate young Englishwoman chosen by Henry VIII in 1540 to replace the disappointing Anne of Cleves as his wife. The tale begins with a chance meeting between the king and erudite, pious Catherine in the treacherous court where Cromwell presides like Darth Vader, menacing and all seeing. In Ford’s portrait, Henry is weary, choleric and mercurial, while Catherine is completely sympathetic, nothing like the girl – frivolous and promiscuous – that many historians describe. The storytelling is less propulsive than Mantel’s: Ford labors over scene-setting and, like a playwright, uses speech and action to reveal motivation rather than explicating his characters’ thoughts. But he vividly captures the uneasiness felt by many in England at the loss of Catholicism, “the old faith,” and his artful use of archaic language transports a patient reader directly back into the heart of Tudor-world.
While Willie Stark, the messianic state governor at the center of Robert Penn Warren’s “All the King’s Men” (1946), doesn’t occupy a throne, he wields enormous power in the imagined Louisiana of the 1930s, recognizing no limits to his own will. Sprawling, melodramatic, with a structure that zigzags in time, this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel’s rise-and-fall story is told by Stark’s right-hand man, Jack Burden, someone in search of love and meaning who comes to understand that the actions of everybody – exalted or otherwise – have consequences. Warren was inspired by the demagogic Louisiana governor Huey Long, but Stark’s populist methods and the corruption of his confederates don’t seem utterly remote from our own day.
Gore Vidal gives us an American-style royal court with his masterly “Lincoln” (1984), bouncing from character to character, borrowing their point of view in turn, to create an artful portrait of the 16th president. In Mantel’s novels, the reader lives inside Cromwell’s head, but here the main character’s state of mind is a matter for interpretation. Lincoln emerges as a folksy, aphorism-spouting backwoods lawyer whose virtuosic political skills outstrip those of all the sophisticates around him. Vidal relishes the entertaining possibilities of his story, but there is nothing lightweight about this carefully researched work. The reader approaches the martyrdom of the president with dread, conscious that without Lincoln’s willingness to pay any price, the Union might indeed have collapsed.
Our 35th president, John Kennedy, proclaimed Mary Renault as his favorite novelist for her fictional evocations of Greece antiquity. “The King Must Die” (1958) tells the coming-of-age story of Theseus, the legendary Athenian king, whom Renault makes a fully human, completely believable youth living in a strange pagan world. Gods and goddesses are not rendered explicitly – but neither is their power denied. The climatic section finds Theseus among the seven girls and seven boys chosen by lottery to be tributes, shipped to Crete and trained to entertain crowds as they fight wild bulls to the death. Fans of Suzanne Collins’s dystopian “Hunger Games” novels will recognize the debt she owes to Renault’s highly original reimagining of the mythical past.
If what you most savored about Mantel’s Cromwell trilogy was its 16th-century setting, try the Northern Irish writer Maggie O’Farrell’s”Hamnet,” which last month won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in the U.K. O’Farrell takes the few scraps of historical evidence about William Shakespeare’s family and uses them to create a dense and lovely rendition of their domestic life. Yet Shakespeare himself isn’t at center stage – O’Farrell is interested in Anne Hathaway, called Agnes here, who in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1582 married a young Latin scholar, later the famous playwright. After Agnes and her husband suffer the crushing loss of their 11-year-old son, Hamnet, the playwright produces a play with a variant of the boy’s name as the title. This Agnes is bestowed with not only second sight, but certain modern attitudes and an independence of thought that feels anachronistic. In this regard, O’Farrell is playing to the galleries of today’s female-dominated book club audience. Her novel, while admirably evocative in its physical details, throws into high relief Mantel’s amazing accomplishment. Mantel summoned from the past a human being, called Thomas Cromwell, who isn’t a replica of the real man, but a fictional creation with the mind-set of his age, who despite that can still illuminate the struggles, desires and griefs of people throughout time.
– – –
McHugh is the author of the novel “A Most English Princess: A Novel of Queen Victoria’s Daughter.”
