What's this I'm hearing about Amy C. Barrett lately?
Notre Dame. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
As an alumnus of Notre Dame, I have been reading for months how proud many people are of her at Notre Dame, our shared alma mater. Alumni and student publications are filled with stories of how principled she is, how much integrity she has, and how her Catholic faith has inspired righteousness in her.
I have seen the photos of her and her family enjoying the celebration of her nomination at the White House. I put it down to obvious satisfaction at a life's goal accomplished, being nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court, and this after only a couple of years as a judge on any court anywhere else. This distracted me from whose hands she accepted her nomination, a person as far from righteousness and principle as you can get.
Still, there is an argument that even saints sometimes make deals with the devil for heavenly goals. (I have never bought that argument, but it is there. I always thought of it more as "If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.")
Now, after six months on the Supreme Court bench, I hear that she has refused to say whether or not she will recuse herself from cases involving a group of Kochs that gave $1 Million to a "national campaign" to win the votes she already had at the time in the U.S. Senate and so be confirmed.
Six months. Making the decision to avoid even the appearance of impropriety is one of the first duties of a judge. More than that, it is a decision that principled people of integrity and faith find easy to make.
Six months. Not enough time to learn cynicism on the job or anything like that. After six months, you make your decisions using the moral compass that you came in with. The Acts of the Apostles contains many reports displaying the effects that early Christians had on others by the examples which Christians openly gave of their principled integrity and acts driven by their faith. "See how they love one another," people said. Their goodness was seen by other people.
No-one was impressed by hearing them talk about how good they are, if they ever did just talk instead of act.
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