for later
WATCH: Sen. Lee Confronts Sen. Hirono Over Dems Questioning Nominees’ Religious Beliefs
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) condemned religious tests for judicial nominees during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday and ended up having a confrontation with Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) who argued that sometimes questions about a nominee’s religious beliefs are relevant to how they will rule on certain matters.
“The problem with asking a nominee about the particulars of his or her religious beliefs is that those questions inevitably expose those beliefs as somehow a qualifier or a disqualifier for public office,” Sen. Lee argued. “That is flatly inconsistent with at least the letter, at least the spirit if not also the letter, of at least two provisions of the Constitution. I cannot fathom why this would ever make sense to do.”
He then directly confronted Sen. Hirono, who has faced criticism for her scrutiny of judicial nominee Brian Buescher’s membership in the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic charitable organization of which John F. Kennedy was once a member.
Lee invoked Sen. Cory Booker’s (D-NJ) question to judicial nominee Neomi Rao earlier this week. Booker asked her if she thought gay relationships were a “sin.”
“I would ask Sen. Hirono, in what circumstance, in what way, shape, or form is asking Neomi Rao whether she believes particular conduct to be sinful an appropriate question to be asked in this committee,” Lee asked.
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Senate Democrats have been criticized in the past for asking religious questions of President Trump’s judicial nominees.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) famously made concerning remarks two years ago during the confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, telling her “the dogma lives loudly within you and that’s of concern.”
Carrie Severino, Chief Counsel and Policy Advisor with the Judicial Crisis Network, thanked Sen. Lee for his remarks.
“Thank you Sen. Mike Lee for putting Senate Democrats, who have demonstrated hate towards religion and people of faith, on notice for bullying President Trump’s judicial nominees,” she said in a statement. “These smear tactics have no place in a judicial confirmation, or anywhere else.”
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