Democrats were increasingly frustrated by their inability to coax or persuade Amy Coney Barrett into disclosing anything about what she believed.
WASHINGTON — Perhaps the most symbolic and telling moment of the Senate hearings on the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court came on Tuesday, when Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas asked about the notepad on the desk before Barrett. “Is there anything on it?” Cornyn asked.
The refusal to explain her convictions left an opening for critics to define Barrett, based on her copious record of writings as a law professor, as well as her frequently provocative opinions and rulings during her three years on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Twitter users quickly used Photoshop to “fill” the notepad for the nominee.
Here, there would be no satisfaction. Barrett retreated to the stance she had taken from the start: She could not offer her opinion on a “matter of public policy,” especially one that was “politically controversial” and that the Supreme Court might have to address. “I’m not going to answer hypotheticals," she said. “I can’t apply the law to a hypothetical set of facts.”
“Now, the game has been since she’s been nominated to get back at Trump and I understand — it’s probably what I would do if I were y’all,” Graham said, in what these days counts as an olive branch on Capitol Hill.
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