Sen. Josh Hawley said he will ask Democrats to agree to refrain from making any attacks against Judge Amy Coney Barrett based on her religious beliefs during her Supreme Court confirmation hearing.
The GOP lawmaker from Missouri, who is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Axios that he wants to hear every member say they won’t go after Barrett for her Catholic faith.
"I'm going to call it out at every single opportunity,” he said.
"Silence is not enough," Hawley continued. "Silence is acquiescence. They've already trafficked in these stereotypes and this bigotry. ... So now it's not enough to go silent and say: 'Well, OK, maybe we'll emphasize something else."
Hawley said Democrats already went after Barrett’s faith during her confirmation hearings for her current post as a U.S. Court of Appeals judge.
"[W]e've seen a pattern from Democrats over the years — not just with Judge Barrett, but other judges up before the committee — where they have interrogated them on their faith,” he said.
He said any questions about her religious beliefs would be "an attempt to impose a religious test that Article 6 of the Constitution explicitly says cannot be applied in this country."
"It's a form of religious bigotry," Hawley said. "[I]t's time for every single one of the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee to renounce it and to pledge that they will abide by the Constitution and they will not seek to impose religious tests."
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