Posted on 02/06/2019 7:43:24 AM PST by SeekAndFind
On Tuesday, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), a 2020 candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, asked Trump judicial nominee Neomi Rao if she considered homosexual relationships to be sinful. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) immediately called Booker out on this line of questioning.
Booker seized on Rao's 2008 article opposing the Supreme Court decision Lawrence v. Texas, which decriminalized homosexual activity. He then directly asked her, "Are gay relationships in your opinion immoral?"
"I am not sure the relevance of that," Rao responded.
"Do you think gay relationships are immoral?" he continued.
"I do not," Rao said.
"Do you believe they are a sin?" Booker pressed.
"My personal views on any of these subjects are things I would put to one side," the nominee said.
"So you're not willing to say whether you believe it is sinful for a man — for two men — to be married?" the senator pressed once again.
"No," Rao responded.
"Excuse me?" Booker said.
"My response is that these personal views are ones that I would put to one side. Whatever my personal views are on the subject, I would faithfully follow the precedent of the Supreme Court," the nominee said.
Booker later launched into a speech about the struggles LGBTQ Americans have faced.
"You know LGBTQ Americans have faced a long history of discrimination, long histories of violence, intimidation, bullying. Young LGBTQ youth in America report not going to school because of fear for their own safety at rates that are unconscionable," he said. Finally, he asked a question, "Why is this administration currently trying to do so much to roll back transgender right protections and the like?
"I think civil rights and equal protection of the laws are two essential values in our system," Rao responded. "If I were to be confirmed as a judge, I would firmly uphold that."
Unsatisfied, Cory Booker asked, "Have you ever had an LGBTQ law clerk?"
Rao, who has never yet served as a judge, noted that she does not have law clerks.
"Sorry, someone working for you," the senator responded.
"To be honest I don't know the sexual orientation of my staff. I take people as they come. Irrespective of their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, I treat people as individuals. Those are the values that I grew up with and those are the values I would apply if confirmed," the nominee responded.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) slammed Booker for his line of questioning, arguing that questions about what is sinful should be utterly off-limits in confirmation hearings. He cited the Constitution's ban on a religious test for public office, and declared, "I don't believe this is a theological court of inquisition."
"The Senate Judiciary Committee should not be a theater for twisting nominees' records or views, nor should it be an avenue for persecution," Cruz declared. "We have seen a growing pattern among Senate Democrats of hostility to religious faith. I was deeply troubled a few minutes ago to hear questioning of a nominee asking your personal views on what is sinful. In my view that has no business in this committee."
"We have also seen Senate Democrats attack what they've characterized as religious dogma. We have seen Senate Democrats attack nominees for their own personal views on salvation," Cruz added, noting that "Article Six of the Constitution says there should be no religious test for any public office."
Cory Booker later insisted he supports religious freedom but did not explain whether he would accept nominees who hold traditional Christian sexual morality — or other traditional religious standards.
Trump nominated Neomi Rao, an Indian-American former law professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School who currently serves as the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, to replace Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the federal Court of Appeals for the Washington, D.C. Circuit. The American Bar Association (ABA), not usually well-disposed to conservatives, has rated Rao "well qualified" to serve on the D.C. Court of Appeals.
He’s “asking for a friend.”
Bio of Neomi Rao:
After graduating from Yale University with highest distinction in ethics, politics, economics, and philosophy, Rao attended the University of Chicago Law School, where she was a member of the Order of the Coif and received her Juris Doctor in 2000. She was the comment editor of the University of Chicago Law Review, and executive editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy for the Symposium edition. Rao clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas[6] from 2001 to 2002, and Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 2000 to 2001.
Well of course they are.
But it is becoming near-illegal to say so.
Yup. Open season on anyone with traditional Judeo-Christian values.
Double open season on Catholics.
Will he put them in the ‘comfy chair’?
Cory Booker is a fag. How can there be any doubt?
Impressive bio.
RE: Cory Booker is a fag. How can there be any doubt?
I didn’t know Spartacus was gay ... :)
But, but ... he now has a girlfriend.
There shall be no religious tests to hold office.
Sounds like a religious test to me.
:: Rao attended the University of Chicago Law School, where she was a member of the Order of the Coif and received her Juris Doctor in 2000 ::
Wonder if she took a Constitutional Law class from Professor Obama? Or, if she even recalls him/his class?
I would love to see the nominee ask if there is a reason he is so stuck on this line of questioning. “Are you so interested because this may affect you?” type of responce from her.
Would love it!! Put him on the spot
What a historic time we are living though. Jesus Christ is going to be on the ballot in 2020. And judging by Trump’s performance last night, God put the right man in charge.
Rao, who has never yet served as a judge, noted that she does not have law clerks.
"Sorry, someone working for you," the senator responded.
It's always about a quota with these clymers on the left.
BOOKER NOW CLAIMS HE HAS A GIRLFRIEND, BUT SHE IS FAKE.
Democrat party All gay....All the time.
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