TWO DAYS INTO LISTENING TO THE HEARING in order to confirm Amy Coney Barrett as a Supreme Court of the United States judge, I came away with the fatigue that sets in from repetition. OK, we get the game. One Democrat after another mentioned real people in their jurisdictions who would not have heath care if the Supreme Court got rid of our Obamacare and some spoke about rights like abortion. (Which, by the way, is very region-specific. Having the right and having a local affordable clinic are not the same.)
I wished I had considered Amy Klobuchar more seriously as a candidate, as I think Saturday Night Live is right about Kamala Harris, and I thought Klobuchar's pre questioning little speech/statement was the best I heard. I was relieved when it seemed that Corey Booker finally got a direct response from a question. The answer Barrett gave was "Yes." There was an instant of relief, then more inability on Barrett's part to answer in any way that might let us get to know her. She kept hiding behind her rights to not offer an opinion because presently she is a judge. Peeyoooo!
Sure, we learned she knows her law and has a very good, if not perfect, memory. She swore her personal beliefs would not sway her. We saw that she was dressed as a lady - with hot pink and deep coral colored Dress for Success outfits, that her hair needed conditioner and a trim, and that she was not denying her Catholic religion or that she once signed an anti-abortion/ Pro-life statement. That was authentic.
But when the last gasp of air flew out of the tire for me was when one of the Republicans honoring her mentioned that she not only had her illustrious education and law career and was mother to seven children, two adopted who are Black, a child - not present who is mentally slow - and obviously was upholding a sacred marriage. No, that was not enough. She also 'makes time" for community service.
I DOUBT THIS SUPER WOMAN CAN RELATE TO THE AVERAGE, ORDINARY, COMMON woman - or man. The woman who comes home from work from her job exhausted and has one or two children who need dinner and their homework supervised, still has a load of laundry to do, wonders if over the weekend they'll be about to get out as a family to do something, like ride bikes or go by a restaurant and pick up dinner, or if she'll still be able to have her job if Covid-19 becomes Covid-20. This woman may or may not go to church. The message of Christianity may be lost on her. She may have had an abortion or two in her life because she was raped, abandoned by a sperminator, or was not in financial or relationship position to bring a child into this world. She didn't like it, but she had to do what she had to do. She may have had her two children and gotten her tubes tied. The children's father may not be in their lives. Her pay may be so bad that even working full time she sweats the rent and is relying on government benefits for food, or in line at a food bank or distribution.
Yes, AMY CONEY BARRET is EXCEPTIONAL, in an unrelateable way.
I don't have a poster to haul out for camera close ups as many Democratic senators were able to do, a poster that would show my AVERAGE, ORDINARY,COMMON woman. I can think of an old friend who would be a good poster mom though.
She was highly intelligent and good in math. She went to college. She graduated with one of those degrees in which women, at the time, were unusual. It was "still a man's world." People like her, because they were not traditional housewives and mothers, created paths for younger women to go ahead and go to law school. Women like her heard this on interviews: "You'll just get married anyway."
She got the Fortune-500 job. She never actually worked in science, but it was related to her position and her degree was a brag point. She was reasonably cute and featured in the ads her corporation put into magazines to prove that they had hired a woman. They did not hire another woman for the next 20 years. She bought a house in a neighborhood that offered excellent public schools.
Her constant travel for the job made her a mother dependent on a cash nanny, who was paid more than most people earn a year, to be there early and to stay late and overnight at times so she could travel for the job. Her husband eventually left the marriage in the worst way possible, leaving her a cheated on fool in the estimation of her upstanding community, and with a devastating financial drain. It had been a long time since they actually had a relationship. She worked so much that she was chronically underweight though a big eater. And then one day the Japanese bought her division and the younger men leap-frogged over her to the higher paying potions. She got the silk parachute and a no compete clause. She never got work in her expertise field again and tried to sell real estate and be a stay at home mom.
If it were not for affirmative action she would never have gotten the job. In her time there she did not mentor or patronize other women so they could succeed at the company or outside of it. She had not one moment for "community service." She switched to the Republican Party. The last time I talked to her she had become a snob. She said she only "dealt" with people who had Master's Degrees. So why had I called?
I wonder how AMY CONEY BARRET compares with the other SUPERWOMAN in pop culture, actress and divorce battle bitch, ANGELINA JOLIE. I can't prove it but I've heard that each of her children has or had their own NANNY as well as their own THERAPIST.
I want to know HOW AMY CONEY BARRET COPES.
I want to know HOW MUCH MONEY SHE and HER HUSBAND EARN so they can afford seven children. Are the children in private schools? What do they pay for health insurance? How much time is she away from home as a judge? Do they employ a nanny?
I remember my parents, Catholics, feeling so left out of the political process because Catholics were unwanted in politics past the local level and how proud they were that John Fitzgerald Kennedy had become president. It was an affirmation that Catholics were getting ahead even though they were not Protestants in America. With all the antics since revealed, we know he was not a good Catholic. We know that some Catholics are Pro-Choice.
Being Pro-Choice does not mean that you, yourself would choose an abortion. It means that the day may come when you find you have to choose. It means that you do not expect other people to have your religious beliefs and live by them.
I could go on, but I'm hungry and tired. I'm not watching any more of these Supreme Court nominees hearings. I hope Kamala, Amy, and Corey read this post and start asking some personal questions that have nothing to do with the law.
C 2020 Christine Trzyna
