This week, Louisiana Senator John Kennedy went viral for stumping one of President Biden’s judicial nominees, with some basic questions about the law. Biden nominated Spokane County Superior Court Judge Charnelle Bjelkengren to serve as a Federal Judge in the Eastern District of Washington. During her Senate confirmation hearing, she faced some not so tough law questions from the Louisiana Senator.
Bjelkengren, a Gonzaga Law School graduate could not remember what Article V of the Constitution did, declaring “Article V is not coming to mind at the moment.” When asked about Article II, she declared “Neither is Article II” before failing to define what “purposivism” meant.
Embarrassing: Watch Senator John Kennedy stump a Biden judicial nominee with basic questions about the U.S. Constitution. pic.twitter.com/HM7i1VxR1q
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) January 26, 2023
If any of that sounds familiar, it’s probably because you’re remembering when, in 2017, Kennedy stumped University of Virginia Law graduate Matthew S. Petersen with questions about what a motion in limine was, and what the Daubert standard is. Petersen, who was nominated for a judgeship on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, stepped down from consideration after the embarrassing moment.
Despite so often showing how clueless they are about The Constitution, Democrats loved every minute of the Petersen fiasco. Richard Blumethal tweeted that it was “time for Trump to stop insulting the public with blatantly unqualified judicial nominees.” Sheldon Whitehouse, the Senator from Rhode Island retweeted the viral moment and added a mocking “Hoo-Boy.”
But the media went even further. The Guardian’s Richard Wolffe declared that “it is our learned opinion that Petersen is an embarrassing fool who has no business wearing a judge’s robes” and later wondered “Let’s say Barack Obama had put forward an utterly unqualified person for a lifetime judge’s job – someone so useless that they hadn’t even boned up on basic legal terms any judge would need to know. And let’s say that nominee was a person of color. What do you think the public reaction would be?”
You’re going to have to Google what the Daubert Standard is, but if you want to know what a double standard is, pay close attention to how the media and Democratic politician’s cover Bjelkengren’s flop.
No, I don’t think Blumenthal or Whitehouse will have the courage to mock, or call “an embarrassment” a black woman that Joe Biden nominated. Nor do I think Mr. Wolffe will have the courage to write the same venom filled article about the woman who was clueless about Article V, or even to acknowledge that his hypothetical scenario failed to elicit the racist response he was so certain it would.
But while the hearing was tough for Bjelkengren, the entire Biden presidency has been tough for the media, Democrats and the left as a whole. Because just like with the very similar stumping of a judicial nominee, Democrats have had to watch as Biden does so many of the same things they previously attacked Trump for, and try to come up with answers as to why it’s somehow different when their guy does it.
Keeping classified documents at your home? That was a Capitol offense when Trump did it. But, to quote Senator Whitehouse, Hoo Boy, did things get awkward when it ended up Biden was keeping tons of classified materials in his garage.
The Border Wall? That was an inefficient and inhumane symbol of xenophobic white supremacy when Trump built it. When Biden started some Border Wall construction and gap fixes of his own, the wall of silence was all the Democrats had.
Covid? We all know under whose presidency more Americans died. And all those jokes about Trump’s less than close relationship with his daughter Tiffany, seem to have dried up since Biden denied his newest grandkid a stocking at the White House, haven’t they?
Watching Charnelle Bjelkengren struggle with some law questions was tough to watch, but nowhere near as painful as seeing Democrats struggle to explain why it’s okay that Biden keeps doing the same things they previously demonized Trump for.
Bjelkengren didn’t have the answers on Wednesday. The Democrats have been just as stumped for the past three years.
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