Opinion: Don’t attack Barrett on her faith

If Democrats take issue with the Supreme Court nominee over her People of Praise membership, they’ll regret it, columnist writes.

With the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, we’re faced with another political battle over a vacant Supreme Court seat. Unlike 2016, the White House and the Senate are both controlled by Republicans. I believe we have a duty and responsibility to hold hearings and a confirmation vote on President Donald Trump’s nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett.

The Democrats and their allies in the news media are already howling with claims of hypocrisy. But Republicans have consistently noted the difference between 2016 and 2020. In 2016, there was divided government. In 2020, Republicans control the White House and the Senate.

The Democrats are essentially claiming that there’s no difference between 2016 and 2020. If that’s the case, why are they changing their tune?

In 2016, Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer said, “Every day that goes by without a ninth justice is another day the American people’s business is not getting done.”

In 2020, Sen. Schumer said, “This vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.”

In 2016, Sen. Richard Blumenthal said, “There’s a duty to fill that vacancy, to make the system work.”

In 2020, Sen. Blumenthal said, “This close to the election, there is no way that the United States Senate can or should act before the voters decide.”

In 2016, Sen. Amy Klobuchar said, “Eight is not enough on the United

States Supreme Court.”

In 2020, Sen. Klobuchar said that Republicans would face a “moral reckoning” if they attempted to fill the ninth seat on the Supreme Court.

In 2016, Vice President Joe Biden said, “The American people deserve a fully staffed Supreme Court of nine, not one disabled and divided, one that is able to rule on the great issues of the day.”

In 2020, Biden said, “Let me be clear. The voters should pick a president, and that president should select a successor to Justice Ginsburg.”

In the closing paragraph of former President Barack Obama’s 2020 statement, he said unequivocally, “A basic principle of the law — and of everyday fairness — is that we apply rules with consistency, and not based on what’s convenient or advantageous in the moment.” He, no doubt, intended these words to be directed at Republicans, but it’s the Democrats whose arguments are dripping with hypocrisy. They’re changing their tune for partisan purposes.

Elections have consequences. The American people elected President Trump and a Republican Senate knowing full well that multiple seats on the Supreme Court could be at stake. What we’re doing is exactly what the voters and the Constitution prescribed.

If Senate Democrats don’t like that, win more elections.