Amy Coney Barrett Told Bari Weiss We Should All Just Trust the Supreme Court
Barf Bag: The Supreme Court Justice said she doesn't know what a constitutional crisis "would look like," but that we're not in one and everything is fine!!!
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett is having a busy week! First, CNN got a hold of her forthcoming book, in which she writes that the court was totally correct when it overturned Roe v. Wade and let abortion bans proliferate. (The book, Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court and Constitution, comes out on Tuesday.) Then on Thursday night, she sat down for a chat with Bari Weiss, the founder of The Free Press, the preeminent website for people who are Republican but won’t publicly identify as such, and instead call themselves “independent thinkers.”
In a talk at New York City’s Lincoln Center—a venue far too prestigious for either conservative footsoldier—Justice Baby Drop Box said that Americans should, like, totally trust whatever she and her freak colleagues do.
She also said we’re not in a constitutional crisis, despite the Trump administration ignoring judges’ orders and repeatedly trying to deport people without hearings. “I don’t know what a constitutional crisis would look like. I don’t think that we are currently in a constitutional crisis, however,” Barrett said. “I think our country remains committed to the rule of law. I think we have functioning courts.”
Weiss asked Barrett about the erosion of public trust in the court. Pew polling shows that, in August 2020, 70% of Americans had a positive view of the court; that number is down to 48% as of last month. A full 50% of Americans disapprove of the court. Barrett responded:
“I would like Americans to trust the institution of the court,” she said, calling it “an institution that does operate with integrity.”
“I’m not saying that the court always gets it right. … I don’t think the court is above criticism or that I am above criticism or anything like that. But I do think Americans should trust that the court is trying to get it right.”
Somehow, I don’t think people trust the six-justice conservative supermajority to do anything right after it let a crazy Texas abortion ban take effect with Roe still on the books, struck down common-sense gun restrictions, guttedenvironmental protections, gave the presidentbroad immunity to do crimes, and so much more.
Barrett also said she doesn’t really care about attacks that right-wingers lobbed at her after she recently sided with the liberal justices on a couple of cases. In case you missed it, after she voted to prevent the Trump administration from withholding billions of dollars in foreign aid, deranged activist Laura Loomer called her “a DEI appointee.” Her response, per Politico:
“To be in this job, you have to not care,” she said, referring to the criticism. “You have to have a thick skin.”
She added that she doesn’t have social media and that her husband and one of her assistants screen material for her and determine whether to share it with her on a “need-to-know arrangement.”
Weiss was separately in the news this week because of reports that the new leaders of Paramount are about to close a deal to purchase her reactionary publication for far too much money and possibly install her as the head of CBS News, a job for which she is deeply unqualified. This would be the doing of new CEO David Ellison, the billionaire son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who bent over backwards for the Trump administration to approve a merger of his company, Skydance Media with Paramount. It’s thought that CBS canceled The Late Show with Stephen Colbertin order to get the merger over the finish line.
President Donald Trump is so desperate to stop New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani from winning in November that the White House is reportedly plotting a job offer for current mayor Eric Adams so he’ll end his third-party bid. The idea is to make it more of a two-man race between Mamdani and disgraced former governor Andrew Cuomo, who’s running as an independent. One job discussed for Adams is ambassador to *spins wheel* Saudi Arabia. [New York Times/CNN]
The Department of Justice is reportedly considering banning transgender people from owning guns after the recent mass shooting in Minneapolis, where the suspect is thought to be trans. How about you bar all cis men first? Oh, it’s not actually about preventing mass shootings? Got it! [CNN]
Grand juries in Washington, D.C. are continuing their streak of refusing to indict people, this time two people accused of threatening Trump. [Associated Press]
Florida will get rid of all vaccine mandates, including ones for students to attend public schools. If you haven’t resumed wearing masks in crowded places, now’s a great time. [NBC News]
The Trump family launched a dumb cryptocurrency this week and made $5 billion—on paper, at least. [Wall Street Journal]
Headline: “Trump Is Accusing Foes With Multiple Mortgages of Fraud. Records Show 3 of His Cabinet Members Have Them.” [ProPublica]
House Republicans have formed a new subcommittee to reinvestigate January 6. [Washington Post]
Trump said he would award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to sentient glob of Just for Men, his former attorney, Rudy Giuliani. [NBC News]
Remember that clip of people throwing shit out a White House window? The administration press team seemed to confirm its veracity, but then Trump suggested it was AI. [Associated Press]
The girls are fighting: Newsmax is suing Fox News for allegedly suppressing right-wing competitors. [CNBC]
Michigan Rep. and candidate for Senate Haley Stevens (D) touted a non-existent endorsement from a local leader. [Michigan Advance]
This has been your weekly Barf Bag, thanks for reading!
