I remember watching the Amy Coney Barrett hearings when Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) asked her to lift up her notepad. She lifted it up, showing that the pad that had been provided for her was completely blank. Despite all the grilling she’d received, the endless “gotcha” questions from Democrats, and the endless number of precedents, she was able to cite and talk about them without any notes at all.
Her impressive display of knowledge and aptitude that day stands in stark contrast to that of Ketanji Brown Jackson, who couldn’t even define what a woman is, or Biden’s judicial nominee Judge Charnelle Bjelkengren.
Bjelkengren, nominated by Biden for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, embarrassed herself on Wednesday when she couldn’t even answer Sen. John Kennedy’s basic questions about the Constitution.
“Judge, tell me what Article V of the Constitution does,” Kennedy said.
“Article V is not coming to mind at the moment,” Bjelkengren replied after a long pause.
“Okay, how about Article II?”
After a short pause, she admitted, “Neither is Article II.”
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“Okay,” Kennedy said. Then, after scratching his head a moment, clearly perplexed at Bjelkengren’s cluelessness, he asked, “Do you know what purposivism is?”
Spoiler alert: she didn’t know that one either. “In my 12 years as an assistant attorney general, in my nine years as a judge, I was not faced with that precise question,” she said. “We are the highest trial court in Washington state, so I’m frequently faced with issues that I’m not familiar with, and I thoroughly review the law. I research, and apply the law to the facts presented to me.”
“Well, you’re going to be faced with it as a — if you’re confirmed,” Kennedy replied. “I can assure you of that.”
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
It is not clear if Bjelkengren’s confirmation is threatened by her lack of basic knowledge of the Constitution or constitutional law. Democrats have a slim majority in the U.S. Senate and, frankly, have never been sticklers for knowledge of the Constitution.
