9/27/2020
DJT,
How was the rally at HIA yesterday? I understand you had some problems with the sound system & some drizzle. Your fans love you, so maybe no one cared.
I did some reading about Amy Barrett (ACB) & found in my July 8, 2018 letter a caution to you about the People of Praise (POP). I have a hard time reconciling her amazing academic and legal record with her affiliation with POP, a group that some call a cult, where kids aren’t supposed to have girlfriends or boyfriends, & husbands are considered “heads.” While I was impressed that she is “humble, generous, loving & kind,” according to her friend & colleague at ND law school, Nicole Garnett, I find POP’s practices creepy.
I resonate with the idea that “dogma lives loudly within” ACB. I like to think that my faith lives loudly within me, too. I just wish her faith were more aligned with mine. I hope she follows through on her commitment to recuse herself when she feels her religious beliefs are in conflict with upholding the law. I worry that might be very hard to do.
As a “textualist” & “originalist” I worry that she might forget that the Constitution was written by rich white males who were somewhat restricted in their views of the world. I’m not convinced that we need to continue to literally interpret every word in a document written so long ago. I have the same problem with the Bible.
According to Yale Law prof, Akhil Reed Amar, the Supreme Court has managed to “outperform” the other branches of government and the media, “By listening carefully to one another and to the parties who come before them, be they rich or poor, liberal or conservative, religious or atheist. By paying close attention to the facts of each case and the letter and spirit of the laws at issue. By hiring law clerks who do not always share their political leanings. By not needing to raise money from party bosses or pander to party extremists.” Hopefully, ACB will contribute to this nonpartisan performance.
HYITL,
