Bigotry Resurfaces

            Religious bigotry has always run under the surface of the Senate’s leftist agenda, especially in Democrat opposition to Christian views on such matters as abortion and gay marriage. It burst to the surface last year when Senator Dianne Feinstein questioned Notre Dame Law School Professor Amy Barrett’s qualifications to be a judge on the 7^th Circuit Court of Appeals on the basis of the nominee’s religious beliefs.  “The dogma lives loudly within you, and that’s a concern,” said the senator in undisguised contempt for the nominee’s Catholic faith.  

            Senator Feinstein was roundly condemned for her bigotry by both liberals and conservatives. But at least two other Democrat senators weren’t paying attention. Last week Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Kamala Harris of California took turns savaging judicial nominee Brian Buescher not only for his Catholicism, but also for his membership in the Knights of Columbus. These bigots questioned the nominee’s qualifications for a judgeship on those grounds, signaling that they would not approve his nomination because he failed their religion test.

            It was refreshing to see Democrat Senator Tulsi Gabbard condemn her colleagues by declaring that she stood strongly against those who are fomenting bigotry by citing a nominee’s religion as disqualifying, even as Gabbard said she opposed Buescher’s nomination on other grounds.

            Disqualifying any nominee on religious grounds is a clear violation of constitutional rights under the First Amendment. But bigots Hirono and Harris have no respect for the Constitution. And, recalling their outlandish performance at the Judge Kavanaugh hearing, they have no sense of fairness either. Or shame. Voters ought to remember that when Kamala Harris announces her candidacy for the presidency.