Attacks On Barrett’s Faith By Democrats, Media ‘Are A Disgrace’ McConnell Says

Even before Amy Coney Barrett has gone before the Senate committee on her Supreme Court nomination, some in the media are already attacking the Catholic mother of seven over her faith.

“Amy Coney Barrett served as a ‘handmaid’ in Christian group People of Praise,” The Washington Post wrote in a headline on Tuesday.

The liberal paper owned by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos said Barrett “has not spoken publicly about her involvement in People of Praise, a small Christian group founded in the 1970s and based in South Bend, Ind.”

Barrett, a federal appellate judge, has disclosed serving on the board of a network of private Christian schools affiliated with the group. The organization, however, has declined to confirm that she is a member. In recent years, it removed from its website editions of a People of Praise magazine — first those that included her name and photograph and then all archives of the magazine itself.

The paper also said the group holds a “male-dominated hierarchy and view of gender roles” and “has conservative stances on the role of women in society and other social issues.”

But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has come to the defense of Barrett, blasting “ongoing attacks by Senate Democrats and the media.”

“Our coastal elites are so disconnected from their own country that they treat religious Americans like strange animals in a menagerie,” McConnell said in a statement.

“The Washington Post decided to report on terminology in an old directory from Judge Barrett’s religious community. The word ‘handmaid’ appears dozens of times in the King James Bible. It was good enough for the Virgin Mary. But now, because one liberal author put it in the title of an anti-religious novel in the 1980s, the press tries to imply that one of the most brilliant and powerful women in the legal world is anti-woman,” McConnell said.

“Sadly, the press is only following the lead of Senate Democrats,” he said, citing two examples.

• Last week, just after trying to claim that Judge Barrett’s religion is not relevant, one Judiciary Committee Democrat proceeded to baselessly question whether Judge Barrett could look past private “closely held” views to rule impartially.
• Four days ago, another Senate Democrat wrote a letter declaring Judge Barrett unfit because she once signed a short pro-life statement as a private citizen, and because the organization that wrote the statement may adhere to traditional Christian teaching about when life begins.

Read McConnell’s full statement below:

The ongoing attacks by Senate Democrats and the media on Judge Barrett’s faith are a disgrace. They demean the confirmation process, disrespect the Constitution, and insult millions of American believers.

• Yesterday, the Guardian claimed it “rais[es] new questions” that Judge Barrett chose faith-centered student housing while attending a Catholic law school. Only our self-parodying liberal media would call it a scandal that a young person in graduate school found community in shared religious beliefs and met their future spouse. Most Americans would call that a beautiful story.
• Hours later, the Washington Post decided to report on terminology in an old directory from Judge Barrett’s religious community. The word “handmaid” appears dozens of times in the King James Bible. It was good enough for the Virgin Mary. But now, because one liberal author put it in the title of an anti-religious novel in the 1980s, the press tries to imply that one of the most brilliant and powerful women in the legal world is anti-woman.
• Last week, Politico had a contributing editor physically snoop around a faith group in Indiana and report what a youth group had left on their whiteboard.

Our coastal elites are so disconnected from their own country that they treat religious Americans like strange animals in a menagerie.

Sadly, the press is only following the lead of Senate Democrats.

• Last week, just after trying to claim that Judge Barrett’s religion is not relevant, one Judiciary Committee Democrat proceeded to baselessly question whether Judge Barrett could look past private “closely held” views to rule impartially.
• Four days ago, another Senate Democrat wrote a letter declaring Judge Barrett unfit because she once signed a short pro-life statement as a private citizen, and because the organization that wrote the statement may adhere to traditional Christian teaching about when life begins.

These euphemisms fool no one. United States Senators are suggesting that Judge Barrett is too Christian, or the wrong kind of Christian, to be a good judge.

Every Supreme Court Justice in history has possessed personal views. Judges have a job to do and they swear to do it impartially. It is the definition of discrimination to assert that Justice Barrett’s particular faith makes her uniquely unqualified for this promotion.

The secular left says they’re for progress, but they’ve just wandered back into the embarrassing tropes of the 1960s, when some argued John F. Kennedy would obey the Pope over the national interest.

Judge Barrett’s brilliant legal career and her stellar record on the Seventh Circuit tell us exactly how she does her job: with excellence. Those are the objective qualifications on which she deserves to be evaluated.

These disgraceful attacks only reinforce why it is crucial to confirm judges like Judge Barrett who understand and respect our Constitution, including its protections for all Americans’ religious liberty.