Sunday/Political Dogma

 

                                         Sunday/Political Dogma

Trump has nominated Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. All Supreme Court nominations bring out the worst in American politics and this one will be particularly bad because Ms. Barrett's opponents will, as they did with Bork, have to publicly oppose quality.

Like Bork, no one objects to the nominee's credentials. She is simply a fine mind, the caliber of Scalia. Her scholastic and academic background is impeccable, her judicial decisions logical, forceful, and often groundbreaking. Nor does anyone object to her personally; who could not admire a successful woman who has adopted two Haitian children? Who could not feel for the mother of a Down's child? No, the antipathy toward Ms. Barrett is deep and white-hot. Ms. Barrett is not just opposed, she is despised--for her beliefs. In the United States of America, a candidate for a court is despised because she reveres the American Constitution.

No one will admit this, of course. There will be a Stalin-like sham trial over her judicial decisions that will be presented not as judicial, but as religious. As the esteemed Diane Feinstein slurred in her appointment hearing for the 7th Court, "the dogma lives loudly within you.” Ms. Barrett, you see, is a Catholic.
"The dogma within" distorts her. She is not just an accomplished American citizen, she is some other twisted creature.

Already the internet cries are out. Girls are calling each other with new contraceptive plans. Barrett will certainly attack The Pill, perhaps an IUD should be considered. That might get each girl through a four-year term. The ancient suggestion the Pope might be packing his bags to take up residence in the Chambers might be next.

This, of course, is theater. There are already five Catholics on the Court: Sonia Sotomayor, Chief Justice John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh. There has not been, as yet, a gynecologic revolution. The point is not her Catholicism, it is her strict application of the Constitution. And that must be fought in any way possible.

The attacks on this woman will be much worse than those on Kavanaugh because she, like Bork, has a deep, abiding quality; she is a woman of substance. And that translates into influence. Her opponents do not oppose her because they are simply bigots, they oppose her because she embodies all of the standards of individualism and freedom that stand in the way of the power they crave. Already they are meeting in boardrooms and conferences, testing focus groups and ad men, planning, and coordinating. Even though the Press is in thrall, they know they will have to be better than Kennedy was with Bork.

She will have to have a lot within her to withstand the viciousness that is coming.