Firebrand socialist Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York made a bizarre accusation against Republicans during the first day of the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.
Ocasio-Cortez accused Republicans of religious hypocrisy when she made the claim from her social media account on Monday.
"Sick and tired of Republicans who co-opt faith as an excuse to advance bigotry and barbarism," tweeted Ocasio-Cortez.
Sick and tired of Republicans who co-opt faith as an excuse to advance bigotry and barbarism.Fact is, if today Ch… https://t.co/kBgessX03M— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez)1602522444.0
"Fact is, if today Christ himself came to the floor of Congress and repeated his teachings, many would malign him as a radical and eject him from the chamber," she claimed without evidence.
She added a video from a liberal news outlet of her comments excoriating Republicans during a House Oversight Hearing in February on religious freedom.
"Sometimes, especially this body, I feel as though if Christ himself walked through these doors and said what he said thousands of years ago, that we should love our neighbor and our enemy, that we should welcome the stranger, fight for the least of us," she said in the video, "he would be maligned as a radical and rejected from these doors."
Ocasio-Cortez went on to retweet another rhetorical attack on religious conservatives from her colleague Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), a Muslim member of Congress.
"Let's be clear about this: if a Muslim woman was nominated to SCOTUS you would see Republicans lose their mind about her religious background," Omar tweeted.
Let’s be clear about this: if a Muslim woman was nominated to SCOTUS you would see Republicans lose their mind abou… https://t.co/GXC71WS7BT— Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan Omar)1602520305.0
"'Sharia law' would be trending right now," she added without evidence. "Miss me with the pearl-clutching and all this righteous talk about religious freedom."
Republicans have defended the Supreme Court nominee from what they say are bigoted attacks from Democrats criticizing Barrett for her deep Catholic faith. Democrats have countered by accusing them of trying to advocate for far-right policies under the cloak of religious freedom.
In her opening statement to the Senate Judicial Committee on Monday, Barrett said that she would continue to consider arguments based on their merits and on what the law says, not on her own personal preference of what the laws should be.
Amy Coney Barrett delivers opening statement | FULLwww.youtube.com
Former Democratic-turned-Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman is warning his former Democratic colleagues against further attacks on Amy Coney Barrett's devout Catholic faith.
Those attacks, Lieberman warned Friday, may backfire.
Amy Coney Barrett rose to national prominence in 2017 after she was confirmed to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. During her confirmation process, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) infamously launched a broadside against Barrett's faith.
"When you read your speeches, the conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within you — and that's of concern," Feinstein said, referring to Barrett's Catholic faith.
WATCH: Sen. Feinstein to appeals court nominee Amy Barrett, @NotreDame law prof/#Catholic mother of 7: "The dogma l… https://t.co/5j3QZVTQz5— Jason Calvi (@Jason Calvi)1504725282.0
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) also questioned Barrett what it meant to be an "Orthodox Catholic." Of course, the concern of Democratic lawmakers at the time was that Barrett may be placed in a position to someday help restrict abortion rights — or perhaps even overturn Roe v. Wade.
Speaking on Fox News, the former Connecticut senator — who was a Democrat for the majority of his political career until he left the party in 2006 — predicted that if Democrats focus on Barrett's faith, "it will hurt her opponents."
Lieberman, who is an observant Jew, explained that, in his experience, religious piety deeply resonates with Americans.
"I found that the fact that I was religious and observant was actually a tie, a bond [with] people of other religions who were similarly observant," Lieberman said.
"You can disagree with somebody based on whether they're pro-life or pro-choice, but when you start to say that you're against them because their religion, in this case, their Roman Catholicism determines their point of view, you're doing something really abhorrent that I think is bigoted, is un-American, and incidentally, is unconstitutional," he added.
In fact, "Article VI of the Constitution says that you can't apply a religious test for any office of public trust in America. That's how wise and fair the people who wrote the Constitution were," Lieberman explained.
Regarding Feinstein's comments in particular, Lieberman called them "improper" and "biased."
"I thought Sen. Feinstein's question in that case was really improper, and was biased really. Everybody brings to the Senate, to the Congress, to [the] Supreme Court experiences and beliefs that they have," Lieberman said. "There's no reason why a religiously observant person should be accused more of dogma than somebody who is particularly ideological in a secular way."
www.theblaze.com
thefederalist.com