Clinton impeachment prosecutor Ken Starr visited Fox News to cheerlead Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court – and laughed derisively when host Neil Cavuto pointed out that Merrick Garland has said he will “never be a Supreme Court Justice.”
Cavuto introduced the partisan Starr by saying he has a “Good read of the law and all things Constitutional or not.”
Starr immediately called Democratic worries that Barrett will repeal the Affordable Care Act “absolute nonsense.” He attacked her opponents, saying they “don’t have substantive arguments with respect to her qualifications, her abilities, her character.”
Starr added, “Look at those kids. She drives a minivan, right, with seven children.” As if that’s a qualification for a seat on the Supreme Court.
Cavuto laughed.
Starr marveled at the “so powerful” “outpouring” by her Barrett’s former dean, “saying last time I testified it was in favor of Elena Kagan, and I’m here with the equal kind of confidence in the abilities of the character the this judge.”
“Good point,” Cavuto said. He cited an article about Judge Merrick Garland in which one of the takeaways, according to Cavuto, was that he will almost certainly never be a Supreme Court Justice now that he's in his 60s.
Starr laughed maliciously. A triumphant smile remained on his face for quite some time.
Garland was nominated by President Barack Obama in March, 2016 but the Republican-controlled Senate refused to give him a hearing, ostensibly because it was too close to the presidential election. Sen. Mitch McConnell called it one of his “proudest moments.” Now, the Republicans can’t wait to ram through Barrett, less than a month before the election, despite public opposition.
We probably all know it has nothing to do with her kids or driving a minivan.
You can watch Starr celebrate the GOP betrayal of democracy below, from the October 12, 2020 Your World.
You can also donate to the Get Mitch or Die Trying fund that helps Democrats in the top Senate races. It's a project of Crooked Media, the folks who bring you Pod Save America.
When Mitch McConnell completed his maneuver of holding the Garland seat open for a full year and then changing the Senate rules to allow the GOP to slam Gorsuch into the seat instead, McConnell celebrated by running around on the Senate floor, exchanging high fives with his aides and with other gleeful Republican senators. He then went to the press and intoned about what a “sober responsibility” it was to have done this.
Any sane legal professional would have serious reservations about the notion of putting Amy Coney Barrett into this seat, let alone onto the Supreme Court at all. Those reservations have nothing to do with whether she drives a minivan or not, or whether she chose to adopt children. Or even whether she goes to church. The reservations are about Barrett’s openly stated Extreme Far Right bias, which the GOP is counting on to provide a 6-3 hammerlock to specifically erase much of the last 65 years of jurisprudence in the United States.
Angry Right Wingers have dreamed for years about reversing Brown v Board of Education, Roe v Wade, and many other major decisions. Now they are guaranteed to be able to get away with it.
On the other hand, if the Dems prevail in 3 weeks, perhaps we can reset the Supreme Court and rebalance to address all the court packing the GOP has been inflicting.