Here is Some Good Dick to Get You Through the Remainder of the Amy Coney Barrett Hearing

The slow and steady method of torture that is the Amy Coney Barett hearing continued this morning, despite my many prayers that the earth would swallow me in my sleep. Unsurprisingly, today’s session is worse than yesterday’s, as members of the judiciary committee are asking fruitless questions which, for the most part, Barrett is legaling her way out of answering. But Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois presented a question to the would-be justice that could have been her first slam dunk of the day. In a long-winded manner, Durbin asked Barrett, a mother of two Black children, her thoughts on how racism is currently taught, and her views on whether racism is systemic or not.

Barrett, who has been trotting out her well-behaved children as if their behavior means anything about how she will rule as a judge, did an absolute disservice to her adopted children and millions of Black Americans when she relegated the question of systemic racism to a “policy question” and declined to answer further.

Durbin, who must have taken his spicy pill this morning, offered an even-tempered check on Barrett’s non-answer by calling into question her allegiance to Originalism. “I just don’t believe you can be as passionate about Originalism and the history behind the language that we’ve had for decades if not centuries without having some thought about where we stand today,” Durbin said, before adding that he would not press Barrett further on the issue. The next batch of Democrats lined up to question Barrett need to follow the very important advice of my favorite unelected politician Cardi B: “Press, press, press, press, press.”