October 13, 2020

‘Legendary’: Barrett Asked To Hold Up Notes She’s Using To Answer Questions. She Holds Up A Blank Notepad.

By Amanda Prestigiacomo
Judge Amy Coney Barrett, holds up a blank notepad after Senator John Cornyn asked her what documents she had on her desk during the second day of her Senate confirmation hearing to the Supreme Court on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on October 13, 2020. - President Donald Trump's US Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett faces a sharply divided Senate October 13, 2020 for her first question-and-answer session, with Republicans praising her faith and qualifications and Democrats set to bombard her over healthcare. (Photo by Drew Angerer / POOL / AFP)
Drew Angerer/AFP via Getty Images

Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett held up a blank notepad when Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) asked her to show the public the notes she’s been using to answer the numerous questions spat at her during day two of the confirmation hearings. 

“Most of us have multiple notebooks and notes and books, things like that in front of us,” said Sen. Cornyn (video below). “Can you hold up what you’ve been referring to in answering our questions?”

Barrett held up a blank notepad.

“Is there anything on it?” asked Cornyn.

“The letterhead that says United States Senate,” the judge replied.

“That’s impressive,” said the senator.

The moment received praise online from conservatives.

 

WATCH the moment, below:

Early during Tuesday’s hearing, Barrett was asked about her views on Roe v. Wade, the landmark abortion case that would push the legalization of abortion back to the states if overturned.

Barrett argued that expressing a view on a precedent would signal to litigants “that I might tilt one way or another in a pending case,” as noted by The Daily Wire. 

“Do you agree with Justice Scalia’s view that Roe [v. Wade] was wrongly decided?” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) pressed.

“Senator, I do wanna be forthright and answer every question so far as I can. I think on that question, I’m gonna invoke Justice Elena Kagan’s description, which I think is perfectly put. When she was in her confirmation hearing, she said that she was not gonna grade precedent, give a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down. … It would be wrong and a violation of the canons for me to do that as a sitting judge.”

“If I express a view on a precedent one way or another, whether I say I love it or I hate it, it signals to litigants that I might tilt one way or another in a pending case,” reasoned Barrett.

A frustrated Feinstein pushed again, framing the question as of most importance for “half the population,” noting that it was “distressing not to get a straight answer.” However, she received the same answer from Barrett. 

Asked a third time, Barrett responded, “My answer is the same … It’s a contentious issue … but I can’t express views on cases, or pre-commit to approaching a case any particular way.”

The judge was also asked during the hearing about how she felt about being referred to as a “female Scalia.”

“I would say that Justice Scalia was a mentor. As I said when I accepted the president’s nomination that his philosophy is mine, too,” she responded, according to ABC News. “He was a very eloquent defender of originalism and it was also true of textualism, which is the way that I approach statutes and their interpretation and similarly to what I just said about originalism.”

“If I’m confirmed, you would not be getting Justice Scalia, you would be getting Justice Barrett,” emphasized the judge.

Related: Barrett Frustrates Feinstein With Response To Repeated Roe v. Wade Questions