The Daily Signal - What to Watch for During Amy Coney Barrett's Senate Confirmation Hearings

Episode Date: October 13, 2020

The second day of Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation hearings begin Tuesday morning. GianCarlo Canaparo, a Heritage Foundation legal fellow and co-host of the "SCOTUS 101" podcast, joins our show to discuss what to watch for and what questions he hopes Senate Judiciary Committee members will ask Barrett.  Canaparo also previews how he and Heritage colleague Amy Swearer plan to cover the confirmation hearings on "SCOTUS 101." Also on today’s show, we share a “good news story” about The Daily Signal’s recent trip to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to see how the community there is coming together to recover after rioters burned and looted many of the city's businesses at the end of August.  Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Tuesday, October 13th. I'm Virginia Allen. And co-hosting with me today is Heritage Audio producer John Pop. John, thanks so much for being here today. Virginia, it's great to be here. Rob is out today. So John was kind enough to fill in. And John is actually the one who records and produces all of our podcasts here at the Daily Signal and the Heritage Foundation. So, John, it's really nice to have you on the other side of the mic today. Virginia, I'm so looking forward to it. This is going to be a lot of fun, so thanks a lot for the opportunity. Well, today we are so excited to welcome John Carlo Canaparo, Heritage Foundation Legal Fellow, and the co-host of the podcast, SCOTUS 101, to this show to discuss what we should expect to see during Judge Amy Coney-Barratt Senate confirmation hearing today and throughout this week.

We also read your letters to the editor, and Virginia shares a good news story about a recent trip to Kenosha, Wisconsin, and how the community in Kenosha is working together to rebuild businesses destroyed by the riots. But before we get today's show, John and I want to tell you about our favorite way to get the news every morning. It's called the morning bell, and each weekday, the Daily Signal delivers the top news and commentary directly to your inbox for free. You'll be able to read about the policy debates shaping the agenda, analysis from Heritage Foundation experts, and commentary from leading conservatives like Ben Shapiro, Dennis Prager, and Walter E. Williams. It's easy to sign up. Just visit DailySignal.com and click on the connect button in the top right corner of the page. And we will start sending you the morning bell tomorrow. Now stay tuned for today's show. Coming up next. I am joined by Jean-Carlaloparro co-host of the podcast.

SCOTUS 101 and a legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, Jean-Carlo. Thank you so much for being here. Thanks for having me back, Virginia. So today begins the second day of the Senate Judiciary hearing for Judge Amy Coney-Barritt. Yesterday, senators gave some opening statements. Can you just give us a 30-second summary of how these confirmation hearings work? What you've got basically is senators trying to accomplish something. What Democrats predominantly are going to be trying to do is trying to get Amy Coney-Barritt to reveal how she's going to rule on cases and issues that are important to them. And if Judge Amy Coney-Barrant follows the example set down by every other Supreme Court nominee since at least Felix Frankfurter in 1939, she's not going to tip her hand. And so you're going to have

this sort of tedious tug of war, to be perfectly frank, between Democrats trying to trip her up with gotcha questions and trying to extract how she's going to rule and she's going to patiently say, well, I can't do that because that would undermine my impartiality if I get confirmed and undermine my impartiality if I don't and remain on the Seventh Circuit as a judge. So what are you looking for? What are you watching for today? What I want to see from Judge Barrett is a commitment to judicial method of textualism and originalism. I want to see that she believes it is not the judge's role to impose her personal beliefs on the law. I want to see somebody who is committed to upholding the democratic process by interpreting the Constitution according to the words that were set down when provisions were enacted and who will uphold the democratic process by interpreting the Constitution.

statutes according to the text that was adopted by Congress and signed by the president. What I want to see from senators actually is what I don't want to see. I don't want to see personal attacks. I don't want to see smears and slander. I don't want to see distortions of the record. What I would love to see is a really honest and frank discussion about judicial process, judicial methodology, the importance of maintaining the integrity and independence. of the judiciary. I don't expect I'm going to see much of that from the senators, though. So, Jean Carlo, as a Supreme Court expert, if you were sitting on the Senate Judiciary Committee, what would be the questions that you would want to ask for it today?

Well, above all else, what I would want to get at is her judicial philosophy and her judicial method. You're not going to get answers on how she's going to rule on substantive cases. She's going to follow what's commonly called the Ginsburg rule, although it actually predates Ginsburg, that she's just not going to opine on issues that are going to come before the court. So what I would want is to understand how does she think about the law? How does she think about what does she think about the judge's role in our constitutional system? How does she decide cases? Is she committed to the text of the Constitution?

is she committed to an originalist and textualist interpretive methodology? And then, you know, beyond that, does she, what role, if any, does she allow for her personal beliefs to dictate how she's going to decide cases? Now, I actually already know the answer to that. She made it clear the first time she was up for confirmation. She said it is not lawful for a judge to use her personal beliefs from wherever they come to decide cases. But other people have not been as steeped in her record as I have.

And so I would tease that out just so that, you know, the people watching can see that, yes, indeed, she is very committed to a textualist, originalist methodology and that her personal beliefs don't dictate how she's going to rule from the bench. And what are you looking for from the senators? And are there particular senators on the Judiciary Hearing Committee that you're going to be paying very close attention to during this hearing? Well, what I'm looking for really is sort of a lack of something. From previous confirmation hearings, we've seen just a lot of nonsense. We've seen the last time Amy Coney Barrett was up, we saw attacks from notably Senator Feinstein on her religions. She said the dogma lives loudly within you. And there's this undercurrent to a lot of the questioning from Democratic senators that the idea that because Barrett is a Catholic, she's going to use her Catholic.

the faith to decide cases rather than the law. Of course, it's based on nothing but conjecture, and it's belied by Amy Coney-Barratt's record, both as an academic who wrote about the court and as a judge for three years on the Seventh Circuit. So I guess that's what I'm looking for. I'm hoping I don't find it, but I know I will. And when it comes to particular senators, I'll be paying attention to Senator Feinstein to see if she reprises the attack she made or if she's learned better. And then always sort of the wild card to look out for is Senator Masey Horano, who often pursues these lines of attack, but with significantly less, I suppose you could say, finesse or tact than other senators do. And so her questions tend to be amusing.

And Jean-Carlo, how long will these hearings last? The hearings are scheduled to go from. Monday through Wednesday. And the questions on Tuesday, every senator on the committee will have 30 minutes to question Barrett. And then on Wednesday, we'll have another day with 20 minute rounds of questioning. So historically, what is the timeline of a Senate judiciary hearing and vote? Because we're hearing a lot of voices on the left so that this is all happening very, very quickly, but comparatively speaking, is this a pretty normal timeline as far as the confirmation and then the hearing and then the possible dates for a vote kind of towards the end of the month?

Oh, yeah. This is a very normal schedule for recent history. But when you put this in perspective of longer history, actually our confirmation processes these days, especially in the last 20 years, are sometimes incredibly long. It used to be the case that this whole process from nomination to confirmation averaged less than 20 days. Justice Byron White, for instance, was nominated and confirmed in a matter of weeks. And he was voted on by the Senate, confirmed by the Senate after his committee hearing, which lasted only 90 minutes and was confirmed by a mere voice vote. So it used to be a lot smoother process than. today. But even by today's standards, this is a very normal timed process. So then what has changed

to make it quite a different timeline and often take much longer than it used to? A few things. For one, there's the normalization of doing hearings and making them public. That actually, it didn't start really until 1939 with Felix Frankfurter. And even then it didn't, It didn't happen for everybody thereafter. But now, you know, these confirmation hearings are derricker and they're going to be drawn out and there's going to be all the time given for background info and digging into her record before and after the confirmation hearings. And they've become something of a political spectacle.

And that's just sort of contributed to the inertia of lengthening and dragging out this process. Fascinating. So you co-host the Heritage Foundation podcast, Kodos 101 with Amy Swearer. Can you tell us a little bit about your podcast and how you all are going to be covering this hearing in depth? Sure. So the podcast covers everything Supreme Court, from the latest news to the latest opinions, what's happening at oral argument. And every week we have a guest on, whether it's a professor, an advocate or judges. on the lower courts. So in our recent episode that came out last week, we had our colleague Tom Jipping on. And Tom Jipping is a longtime veteran of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He's an expert on the confirmation process. So he walked us through that. What has it looked like historically? What's the road ahead for Amy Coney Barrett here? How does this compare to various eras in history? And then next week we'll also be doing another deep dive into confirmation history and the question of, you know, is it different? Is it really different today than it used to be? Is it more contentious? Are they more political with Ilya Shapiro from the Cato Institute who just finished a book on this subject? And so we'll be covering that and we'll be giving you the news every day about how these committee hearings are going. And meanwhile, the Supreme Court.

court is still in business, so we'll be covering what they're doing too. So a lot going on, a lot happening over at the Supreme Court. It sure is. So tell us how do we find and listen to SCOTUS 101? Where, anywhere you find podcasts, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and on the Heritage Foundation website. Great. All right, so I want to circle back for a second to Judge Barrett's confirmation hearing. What are your thoughts on the vote? Right now, I think it looks like, if all more or less goes according to plan, it looks like the Senate will vote to confirm Barrett.

But do you have any insight on this? No, besides, but you mean, you put it right. I mean, it looks like she's going to get confirmed. Part of the problem is that we've already had many Democratic senators who have already said they're opposed to her, you know, regardless of what happens at the hearing, regardless of her qualifications. just because she's a Trump nominee and just because the politics surrounding this, they're not going to vote for her. So you sort of wonder, you know, why are we even going through this rigmarole? But, you know, I guess we have to.

But, you know, there's no indication that Republicans, senators are going to balk at her nomination or vote against her. Every indication that all the Democrats will. And so we'll come down to, you know, assuming all the senators who are presently out with COVID, can get back, we'll have a tight party line vote. I was fascinated to see that, that they are holding the hearing. It's kind of a mixture of senators participating virtually and, of course, in person. I think that's going to be a fascinating situation, seeing for the first time what that looks like

to have senators sort of on screens weighing in and asking questions. You know, it's actually not the first time. Oh, in fact, just in the last six months, very much. various Senate committees have conducted more than 150 of these hybrid hearings. Okay, so they're old hat at this now. Yeah. In fact, the Judiciary Committee has done about 23 of memory serves, 23 of these just recently, including ones on other judges for the lower courts.

So this is normal for them now. Okay, but this will be the first time for a Supreme Court nominee, correct? That's correct. Okay, okay. fascinating. We are in, I think, for a wild week, Jean-Carlo. We just so appreciate your insight in this field. And again, we definitely encourage our listeners to check out your podcast, SCOTUS 101. Thanks so much for having me on, Virginia. I'm Amy Swearer. And I'm John Carlo Canaparo.

And if you want to understand what's happening at the Supreme Court, be sure to check out SCOTUS 101, a Heritage Foundation podcast. We take a look at the cases, the personalities, and the gossip at the highest court in the land. It's SCOTUS 101. Thanks for sending us your letters to the editor. Each Monday, we feature our favorites on this show. Virginia, who's up first? Heather May Dombrowski of New Kent, Virginia,

writes, Dear Daily Signal, our nation's history is a source of fascination and inspiration to me. The more I study the people, events, and miraculous occurrences that shaped our past, the more I realize that America is exceptional. Events of the past several months have left me brokenhearted. Tunnel vision narratives that have distorted our nation's heritage and villainized many of our country's greatest leaders

by focusing solely on their faults, i.e. the 1619 project, have contributed in part to the many vitriolic, destructive rampages throughout our country. America continues to face innumerable devaluable, divisive issues. It is imperative that we holistically learn our history and humbly look to God for his desperately needed miraculous assistance. And in response to Fred Lucas's piece, three key points in newly released FBI documents on foreign bid to influence Clinton campaign, Mike Schaefer of Missouri writes, it seems clear that the FBI was well aware of this so-called influence effort by a foreign government and was smoke screening the Clinton campaign by outreach for the defensive briefing only

when forced to do it. It is so ironic that leftists continue to blame Trump and conservatives for being guilty of what they do each and every day in broad daylight, i.e. racism, illegal campaigns, supporting hate, and the destruction of our cities, weaponizing government agencies cancel culture. Your letter could be featured on next week's show, so send us an email at Letters at DailySignal. com. Americans have almost entirely forgotten their history. That's right. And if we want to keep our republic, this needs to change.

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Virginia, you recently visited Kenosha, Wisconsin, and you have some good news to report back to us about that trip. Over to you. Thanks so much, John. So last Monday through Thursday, the Daily Signal traveled to Kenosha, Wisconsin to interview small business owners who were affected by the riots and, as well, community leaders who are stepping up to help those business owners. So we were a team of three, and on Monday night, we drove in December. Kenosha, Wisconsin. The sun had already gone down. But the first thing I noticed as we drove in was just the small town feel of the community. Kenosha is a beautiful historic town located right on

Lake Michigan. But as we were driving in, I also noticed that many of the windows I saw were boarded up. Both businesses and homes alike have plywood boards covering their windows and even their doors. And it's this wild juxtaposition of this lovely American town that has so clearly been through this horrible travesty and is working and trying to figure out how do we overcome. And through every conversation I had with business owners and community leaders, I heard this very consistent theme of hope. The people of Kenosha are incredibly strong. We saw it painted everywhere, Kenosha strong, and we will overcome. And these business owners, they told me over and over again that they have hoped that their city's going to be able to recover, that they're going to be able to come back stronger.

Because they are a united people, even despite their differences. On the second day, we were there. I sat down with a woman named Gretchen Covelli, and she's the volunteer coordinator for a group called Downtown Kenosha, Inc. and Gretchen and her team received 10,000 Facebook messages after the riots from people all over America asking what they could do to help the people of Kenosha. And Gretchen and Downtown Kenosha, Inc, they've mobilized literally hundreds of volunteers in Kenosha over the past several weeks to help business owners to board up their windows. And then to paint really encouraging and beautiful messages on those boards. I spoke with a gentleman named Eric Ortel. He owns a small computer shop in Uptown Kenosian. On August 24th, rioters smashed the windows of his shop, and they just stole really anything that they could get their hands on.

But the thing that seemed to strike Eric the most that he struggled through tears to tell me was what that moment was like when he came to his shop that morning. And shortly after he arrived, there were volunteers from the city of Kenosha that were standing outside asking how they could help. And they jumped in and began sweeping up glass and picking up the shelves that had been knocked over and really just coming around and supporting him. And we are so, so excited here at The Daily Signal, to tell Eric's story and to tell the stories of the other individuals in Kenosha that have been affected by the riots in a day. Daily Signal documentary because we really want to tell the true Kenosha story because the reality is that Kenosha has been ravaged by violence and hatred, but that violence and that hatred, that doesn't represent the true heart of this beautiful and diverse American town. So be looking out for a daily signal underreported documentary coming within the next few weeks, hopefully. We're going to get to

work on that right away because the true Kenosha story is the story that needs to be told. And And it's a story of these individuals that have been through so much. And yet they're choosing hope and they're choosing to say we are a strong American town and we will overcome. Well, Virginia, that's a powerful story. And you guys did some great work out there. Thank you so much for that. And with that, we're going to leave it there for today. You can find the Daily Signal podcast on the Rickashay Audio Network.

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