Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett decided Tuesday that voicing support for one of the most fundamental propositions of a functional democracy—the peaceful transfer of power—was just a tad too controversial for her to touch.
Sure, it seemed like a simple enough question for an originalist, someone who believes legal disputes should be resolved by focusing on the text of the Constitution and what was originally intended by that text. Since the twentieth amendment, which was ratified in early 1933, lays out very clearly that a presidential term ends on January 20th at noon, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey probably figured this wasn't exactly a gotcha question.
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"Do you believe that every president should make a commitment unequivocally and resolutely to the peaceful transfer of power?" Booker asked.
“Well, Senator,” Barrett started, looking just a tad like a deer in headlights, “that seems to me to be pulling me in a little bit to this question of whether the president has said that he would not peacefully leave office and so, to the extent this is a political controversy right now, as a judge I want to stay out of it, and I don't want to express a view."
True, Trump refused to commit to a peaceful transition late last month, saying "We're going to have see what happens." But still, the founding fathers very clearly intended for peaceful transfers and the transition instructions enumerated in the twentieth amendment are clear—there's no wavering about seeing what happens. Sen. Booker decided to give it another go.
"It is remarkable that we’re in a place right now that this is becoming a question and a topic," he acknowledged. "But I’m asking you, in light of our founding fathers, in light of our traditions, in light that everyone who serves in that office has sworn an oath … to preserve and protect and defend the constitution of the United States, I’m just asking you, should a president commit themselves like our founding fathers … like the grace that George Washington showed, to the peaceful transfer of power? Is that something that presidents should be able to do?"
Barrett said "one of the beauties" of America from the beginning has been the tradition of peaceful transfers of power, and that "disappointed voters have accepted the new leaders that come into office" without upheaval.
She continued, "And I think it is part of the genius of our constitution and the good faith and good will of the American people that we haven’t had the situations that have arisen in so many other countries where there have been, where those issues have been present."
So... no? Apparently a president shouldn't commit to peaceful transitions, it seems, based on Barrett's answer. But also apparently the American people should (even though Trump shouldn’t), since it’s their "good faith and good will" that have really done the trick up until now.
Booker left it there and moved on—because clearly originalism is dead on any question that relates to Donald Trump. Barrett snuffed it out in front of the entire country and replaced it with idolatry for Dear Leader.
Watch it:
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