Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) questioned a series of Joe Biden Federal District Court nominees today including: (1) Judge Charnelle Bjelkengren who is nominated to be United States District Judge for The Eastern District of Washington; (2) Matthew P. Brookman, to be United States District Judge for The Southern District of Indiana; (3) Michael Farbiarz, to be U.S. District Judge for the District Of New Jersey; (4) Robert Kirsch to be U.S. District Judge for The District of New Jersey, and (5) Eleta Merchant to be U.S. District Judge for The Eastern District Of New York.
Judge Bjelkengren couldn’t even explain what Article II or Article IV of the U.S. Constitution are about. It gets worse from there.
Perhaps Senator John Kennedy did not mean to expose the outcome of affirmative action, diversity and social equity as a qualification for a federal court judge, but it happened anyway. This is beyond cringeworthy, and, well, just wow. WATCH:
.
“President Biden and Senate Democrats have made it a priority to elevate judicial nominees from demographically and professionally diverse backgrounds, and during the 117th Congress, we have shattered records when it comes to diversity on the federal bench… [including] a record number of nominees with experience serving not only as prosecutors, but also as public defenders, voting rights experts, and civil rights attorneys… Every one of these jurists is highly qualified and ready to serve our nation and the American people.” ~ Senator Dick Durbin, Chairman of Senate Judiciary Committee
Academia now selects for *conformity*, not merit – and America suffers the consequences.
Comrade Sync, in the future remember to include the proper reference to the revolution through crediting Marxism to read: “Academia now selects for *Marxist conformity*, not merit – and America suffers the consequences.” I am making this post tongue-in-cheek to support your claim and also identify the origin of the desired conformity.
LOL “identify the origin of the desired conformity.” Excellent. They should’ve just answered, “Whatever the little red book says.”
Sundance was right; that was painful.
This is why so many jobs now require college degrees when they didn’t need anything 10-20 years ago. It isn’t about the need for higher learning in order to be productive; it’s about keeping normal people out of the workforce. Any halfwit in Human Resources would tell you that if you buy her enough drinks.
Lately, I’ve heard of a fringe political mindset calling themselves “accelerationists.” They believe that the US cannot be saved, so it’s better to hasten its downfall. The sooner it falls apart, they say, the sooner the parasites can be eradicated and the nation can rebuild. I doubt the process would be so tidy, especially with so many foreign interests waiting to pillage whatever they can. But I do understand the accelerationist mindset. None of this corruption is going to stop. It won’t “get better” without decisive intervention from the people.
I agree and my apologies John. I posted just now and didn’t see another ‘John’ in this thread.
Wow! Now I finally know what I am and we are not a fringe group. It’s just that so many people are ostriches.
Correct! I’ve seen this at work. It used to be they required a bunch of ‘diverse’ candidates to interview. NOW you can’t even interview unless the panel that selects the candidate is also loaded with diversity. The results are what you would expect. I advise everyone I know to be sure and put down “mixed race” when they apply to interview. They can’t say you’re not. After all, your mother could be even if your last name reflects European heritage — and if it’s good enough for Elizabeth Warren (aka Fauxcahontas) then it’s good enough for all the rest of us!
50 years of gubbmit schools and here we are.
50 years? We have had government schools since 1857. I do agree that the downhill slide has accelerated since the 1920s and has achieved free fall since “No Child Left Behind”.
Senator Kennedy’s questioning reminded me of my past. Where people actually felt like they were on trial when they testified in front of a Senator or Congressman, , or in this case, were having a job interview. Gosh how I miss that.
Instead it seems “how much do you like me?”
This is what an entire culture who wants to be “liked” more than by the content of their character is about. Its not working. It is awful.
An entire Cabinet based on “equity” so far is a disaster. Look at Buttigieg! He is in charge of the US Transportation system. I doubt he would know how to buy a ticket to ride on a Greyhound Bus, Amtrak Train, or even a flight on Southwest.
I really don’t want to pray to the porcelain Buddha tonight, but I am getting close.
At least Petey knows all about the ins and outs of the men’s room at the Greyhound and Amtrak stations, for sure.
definitely a toe tapper.
Fanny flipper?
Once upon a time in the Army the promotion boards were called “murder boards” because people had to demonstrate actual ability and knowledge and competence before being promoted.
Questions were supposed to be asked accordingly.
I have come to realize that Buttigieg only talent is to do nothing with a smile.
Oh I’m SURE he has other “talents”. I suspect and diminished gag reflex and calloused knees among them.
He couldn’t even run a small town.
Big question: do they get confirmed?
Of course.
“The rule in the Biden administration is to pick someone who’s an abysmal failure!”
That guy truly hates people of color without doubt! “The Majority… People of color…”
They never change do they?
look up The Tuskegee experiment which began in 1932 and people of color.
Don’t be fooled. The Biden Administration doesn’t have anyone else to pick but abysmal, woke, Marxist failures.
We are screwed. End of story.
Allowing the screwing to occur has become a pandemic.
So the question is, what will be his vote on these ignoramus cretins?
Doesn’t matter as the Dems have a majority on the Judicial Committee and Graham usually votes Yea “to be nonpartisan”, don’t ya know?!?
AUGUST 5, 1986
Scalia Confirmation Hearing Day 1
https://www.c-span.org/video/?150300-1/scalia-confirmation-hearing-day-1&event=150300&playEvent
Its hard to find the 10 minute video of Clarence Thomas giving Bribem a dress down during his confirmation hearings (as related to race and having to work harder to be ‘accepted’).
I found that to be quite frightening. When faced with prospective Federal judges displaying this level of what I believe to be incompetence, they make me glad I am old.
Me, too.
Me, three…
this is one of the reasons that helps explain the failure of the administrative state and also military leadership. Rather than competitive merit, evaluated by qualified people who have the highest standards, the central state has devolved into a simple method of process.
check this block, and then the next, and voila’…you get the job.
eventually this gives way to a false set of qualifications contrary to every single thing that competitive merit stands for:
are you the “right color”
are you queer.
how corrupt have you been and how reliable can you demonstrate your allegiance to corruption.
have you facilitated directly and indirectly unethical behavior, immoral acts?
these are the new standards….having displaced all that was good about the very reasons for desiring TO SERVE YOUR COUNTRY.
this joe malarkey circus was predicted long ago. The only thing that prevented it earlier is a few good men and women who stood in the gap and said NO!
that is what is missing, and I pray that members of congress will truly understand the risks of committing the greatest crimes:
to give up and not lead.
We need leaders in congress willing to stand up and say, NO..this is not how it will be done.
and fight like the third monkey and to never stop.
I would also say this has to happen in every town, neighborhood and city too.
WE ALL HAVE A ROLE.
we cannot expect congress to solve these problems of leadership
we are truly asking the wrong people to solve our problems.
WE ARE THE WHITE HORSES COMING TO SAVE US.
Through OUR leadership, we renew what we can influence. and THAT is how it begins.
to rely on congress to solve these problems is illogical as much as it is futile.
it Is important that congress gets its act together no doubt, but to what end does congress solve a problem when an entire society cannot put its own boots on?
when is now?
God Bless America
They are competent, but not at the law, they are competent at dressing up their political decisions about the law to seem legal.
I’m in California and, in every election, we are asked to elect Superior Court judges we know absolutely nothing about. Most people never see the inside of a courtroom, and have no idea how crucial it is to have highly intelligent, competent, fair judges even at the Superior Court level (ask Kari Lake). Sure , u can appeal, but appellate courts tend to uphold lower court decisions. I finished an estate battle last year, my SC judge was ignorant of trust case law, did not have a full grasp of civil procedure and was biased in favor of a local law firm.
Diversity is a trojan horse to undermine the judicial branch, which we cannot afford, esp at the Federal level where the Federal Govt is increasingly our enemy.
Judge = failed lawyer.
Really hope this crew does not get confirmed. Does confirmation require 2/3 vote of the Senate or just a simple majority?
Simple majority.
.
I’m… appalled.
I hesitate to say this, because it doesn’t apply universally and I don’t want to cast aspersion on the exceptions to the rule… But. When I was in law school (granted, way back when), there was a heirarchy of “career paths” that the law students went into… Many of the lesser academically competent seemed to go work as state prosecutors or public defenders or for special interest non-profit groups or other government agencies.
Once upon a time, the actually competent who did this might work their way up the food chain or end up doing big-money litigation. For the rest, it was just a good way to get litigation cred, and they would at a point just go into private practice in smaller firms. In recent decades, however, if we factor in the affirmative action career-boosting that artificially would keep promoting some of these practitioners instead of weeding them out, well… now there they are, situated to politick themselves into judgeships and other government positions with power that they really aren’t competent to have.
A stellar example of this would be someone I once knew very well — known as “ABC”. Dumb as a rock in law school, went back home to Jacksonville FL and got a job in the State’s Attorney’s office there. We lost touch. Decades later, I literally fell off my chair when… she emerged as the big prosecutor in the Trayvon Martin case.
.
The less competent are drawn to gov’t jobs, where they can be paid well, held to a low standard, and have no accountability.
…and are protected from liability.
I would say most judges couldn’t pass the bar exam again.
A lot of home-cooking goes on in many counties. Attorneys with any knowledge and a good case, have to appeal to find someone that knows anything about their subject matter. Of course not all judges are stupid, but there’s a lot of them.
And I wonder if bar exam standards have also been lowered along with all other academic tests.
Bjelkengren is a judge Washington State where the US and WA State constitutions are not recognized by the ruling political crime syndicate. This rogue regime came to power as the result of DECADES of election fraud. How many so-called blue states should be called “election fraud states”?
ALL of them.
Bjelkengren is black and a muslim.
“Umm, Judge Clusterfk, can you please tell me how you graduated law school?”
I could be wrong, but it looks like Old Joe and his gang are trying to set up a Judicial Dictatorship.
The only qualifier that they need is that they follow the orders from who ever is controlling Old Joe.
This interview was troubling on several levels. What laws schools produced such students, how many defendants were damaged by their lack of knowledge concerning the law, and the list continues. Who accepted them as qualified for this position. Are they aware of their own shortcomings.
If the practice of law was a business, then the SCOTUS would be saying hell no and why are they working for me.
The question mark exists on the keyboard for a reason.
OMG. USUALLY, I am FRUSTRATED when a Senator “runs out of time” just as he is getting to “the heart of the matter” but this time, I was RELIEVED.
Sure, initially there was some shedenfrude, I admit it, but then I was EMBBARRASED for the witness’s (Judges).
The New House RULES committee, MUST scedule the hearings in such a way that witnesses CAN NOT be “saved by the bell”.
If Jordan, MTG, Ghomert, etc. have a witness on the ropes, they need to be given the time neccesary, to go for a knock out.
THIS is VITAL, and respectfully suggest SUNDANCE include it in his list of reccomendations to the House Committee Investigation of the weoponisation of the Government, and in fact ALL of the House committees.
Another demonstration of the judicial potempkim village.
these legal ‘scolars’ are nothing but an illusion.
This is just terrifying. Governed by imbeciles. Good God.
These four (three heard from), don’t even sound qualified for their current job.
They are well dressed though and have lovely white teeth. The government pays well!
“Thank you for that question, Senator. In my 4 years of college and my 4 years of law school and my 12 years as a judge, I find myself unable to answer any of your questions, but I will vomit a word salad to make it appear as though I am more than a learned, thoughtful and intelligent nitwit.”
Lol, you noticed that, too? 🙂
Totally agree, and most especially in the case of the one who vomited it over and over again as her only response …
the law is difficult to understand if a person has never determined to become a student of it.
a student of law is not someone who simply goes to law school, or even wears a black robe, and rules in cases.
a student of law is someone similar to a mathematician. To learn the letters of the law requires to understand the FUNCTION..the SPIRIT…the essential fundamental truths about law.
and yes, there IS some interpretation necessary…but it is not accomplished by rote memory.
it is similar to a scientific method…the experimental proof.
but if you do not understand the formulas, you can never get to 4 from 2 plus 2.
this is where the “education system” has its limits. Advanced studies are required.
intense tireless curiosity to ponder the historical arc of how people before you arrived at principles that are indispensable when seeking a truth.
the problem with these “candidates” is indicative of a much larger brain donation program that happens in “school”.
take a test…pass the bar..make the right friends..get an appointment.
When you listen to Senator Kennedy, he is NOT antagonizing these people. He is showing LEADERSHIP.
He has the temperament that is necessary to filter student and give them f minus when it is so obvious they have come up short and small on the basic ambition to be curious.
the greatest and most trustworthy and honorable judges on the supreme court demonstrated a lifetime of dedication to understanding the fine details of the law. The meaning, the spirit, the assumptions, the limits, the ideas and the principles. These are values based tenants. They are essential to this study. And this is where it is NOTHING like math.
math does not care about a human being…2 + 2 = 4 is sterile..and has no attachment to the social order of human beings. it is only a tool.
the law on the other hand IS ALL ABOUT THE HUMAN CONDITION.
from the law, we perfect a society. it establishes the conduct, what is acceptable, what can never be tolerated…what is truthful and beautiful and precious..and that which is abominable and loathesome.
our laws are derived from the principle that they COME FROM GOD. That our moral fabric is stitched and sewn from the promises of God. This is what Senator Kennedy is really getting at. He is subtle, but he is also taking notes about just how far past the pale these “new” students do not even comprehend or understand from what these laws attempt to address.
how to arrange a set of rules that are PLEASING TO GOD.
originalism at it’s core, is not about founders…not about black robes and their own conclusions.
it is about the very basis upon which we can even contemplate a society that exists to please and to be obedient to God.
That is the law. That is what the law means. That is how you begin to understand the law properly.
without this intimacy of knowledge and experience AND TRAINING to learn the arc of law and from which it is derived..there is no meaning…it’s all up to interpretation…all up to flexible moral jango. Let’s pull this one out and see what happens.
this is one of the most critical reasons why this nations’ laws are a failure.
the courts and judges have abandoned and ignored truth. They ignore it and do so willingly…it has become a cancer. One year after the next…and few law schools even discuss the concept even the debate about from which the power of law cedes.
Senator Kennedy is unlikely to ever change these people..That time has passed.
But I admire his principle that he will not be a coward to ask the most serious questions in congress.
“do you know WHY originalism is important?”
no one even came close to answering this basic question.
many of us here at CTH have been in prayer over this for many years…that LAWMAKERS IN DC will renew their spirit and dedicate themselves to the sacred oaths they have sworn.
It is pleasing to witness Senator Kennedy has never forgotten his sacred oath. Some might find his “routine” amusing, comedic at times. That is a southern style. But never let that confuse for a minute that he has a deep and truthful grasp of the law and he might just be the only one in Congress who has the courage to stand up and speak to it.
God Bless America
Excellent! Thank you. Expose…expose…expose.
John 1:5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
Very well said.
I think at one point Ted Cruz had the rational-brain going for him when it comes to the law, but he has now chosen to ignore reasoning and just go along with the crowd. What a shame.
Poignant….
“The Law” is serious, serious business to “The Lawgiver.”
Always remember: He’s not just “a judge;” He is “The Judge.”
The practice of the law is every bit the high-calling to Him as is the practice of medicine to Him, who is also called “The Great Physician.”
Each practice requires not simply intelligence, but wisdom, as well.
Each practice requires discipline, commitment, humility, empathy, and compassion.
(Simply because we don’t often see it, doesn’t mean it’s not required!)
Those who practice such high-callings will be held to higher standards.
Trivializing their practices diminishes a society, and insults their Creator.
Sunshine!
(1) Judge Charnelle Bjelkengren who is nominated to be United States District Judge for The Eastern District of Washington; (2) Matthew P. Brookman, to be United States District Judge for The Southern District of Indiana; (3) Michael Farbiarz, to be U.S. District Judge for the District Of New Jersey; (4) Robert Kirsch to be U.S. District Judge for The District of New Jersey, and (5) Eleta Merchant to be U.S. District Judge for The Eastern District Of New York.
Were Shanequa Washington and ShanayNay Bootyazz not available ???
They’re already on the bench. SCOTUS actually.
This interaction had me cringing at every response that was offered. However, if you extrapolate these into the broader range of all levels of government, we can now understand why government is literally caving in on itself due to their own inability to comprehend or understand how and why the governed see them all as unqualified, incompetent and radicalized beyond belief! This is what our law schools and academic Marxists are willfully producing. It explains why they retreat behind the tyranny of absolute immoral power rather than the power of a moral foundation. Jefferson feared that the eventual disintegration of our country would come through the creeping moral decay of the court system. Here is the proof!
Well said. Thank you! . …they retreat behind the tyranny of absolute immoral power rather than the power of a moral foundation.” Thus we see “the creeping moral decay of our court system.”
Jefferson: If [as the Federalists say] “the judiciary is the last resort in relation to the other departments of the government,” … , then indeed is our Constitution a complete felo de so. … The Constitution, on this hypothesis, is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist and shape into any form they may please. It should be remembered, as an axiom of eternal truth in politics, that whatever power in any government is independent, is absolute also; in theory only, at first, while the spirit of the people is up, but in practice, as fast as that relaxes. Independence can be trusted nowhere but with the people in mass. They are inherently independent of all but moral law … — Letter to Judge Spencer Roane, Nov. 1819
All that’s fine. DEI equals prompting incompetence. We all know that. But What’s the point in the judge being able to recite the constitution forward and backward if they never have any intention to uphold their oaths? I’m referring to the three coward Trump appointees.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity–DEI. UGH.
I do believe the Good Senator was trying to trip her….and he succeeded….
Article II is as follows, depending on accuracy printed:
https://constitutionus.com/constitution/articles/article2/
Article 2 is extremely important and they appear to know NONE of it. Sheesh.
Because my original home is eastern Washington, I looked up the nominee for the eastern district of WA.
Her law degree is from Gonzaga, a once-esteemed university. Shocking she cannot answer basic questions about the Constitution.
Of particular note is this gem in her bio: “Throughout Judge Bjelkengren’s legal career, she has worked *exclusively* with state agencies and institutions.” (emphasis mine)
Now why – other than diversity- is a nominee being put forth who has only worked with the bureaucracy in a relatively small state? Eastern WA is very rural & agricultural (wheat, potatoes, fruit, grapes/wine, hops/beer). Water rights are a ginormous issue. Tribal lands comprise a large swath of the area. Microsoft then Amazon millionaires have altered much of that area, but much of it remains impoverished. My brain not big enough to come up with answers, insert SD’s image of suspicious cat here.
Kennedy was playing Jeopardy while the judges were playing The Dating Game.
These losers probably found their law degrees in a fortune cookie.
LOVE the way he scratches his head relaying in body language that he’s simply a befuddled old fool. This man is a genius!!
Wow
Did Kennedy expose the incompetent of these people. Scary they will be deciding anything relevant.
Guardians of the Collective, which pretty much any ambulance chaser will enthusiastically assume that role as long as the price is right.
You can’r escape the bell curve, no mtter how much one tries to deny it.
I would say that I was surprised – shocked even – by the idiocy and the utter lack of legal knowledge any of these morons had, but … we already dealt with the idiocy of Barky and his lack of understanding of anything about law – and he was at hah-vahd and Precedent of the Lawn Care review! Barky didn’t even learn the difference between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution at Hah-vahd, and Sotomayor thought that Spanish didn’t have adjectives (while she was already at princeton!!) and didn’t know the difference between “imminent” and “eminent”, so these three dipshits seem to be par for the course for legal leftists.
Kennedy could have given them a little pop quiz on Originalism and asked them all to write down what the meaning of the word “computer” would be if it was in legal text from the 19th century.
That could have been one of the funniest events in all of Senate history when he read each of their answers (I can only imagine!) out loud and graded the papers with a big, fat red marker.
Got to stop this or the courts will be completely destroyed. Unfortunately our senate is full of communists and rinos.
I know AP high school kids who know more about the constitution that these judges appear to know. Just wow!
We had a snow storm and a couple trees came down. I was out limbing and cleaning up when a neighbor drove by and asked if I needed a hand. Mind you, I’m in MASS at my Mom’s and she has Trump signs, etc… Anyway, I said that’d be great and he and his son,16-17yo, came back to help. They have Biden/Harris bumper stickers and a BLM sign on a tree at their house. Alan, son, was questioning me on Trump sign, I explained my conservative position, he listened agreed with some of it, I think, and we talking about liberal stuff. Alan’s dad was smirking, the kid is pretty smart. Anyway, I’d pick Alan as a federal judge before any of these knuckle heads.
Senator Kennedy didn’t dumb it down enough.
Just wow!
Come on, Senator Kennedy, you know they’ll look good in their black robes and coiffed hair. Silly man, knowledge is for people above their pay grade/sarc.
And you know people like Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski will clap like seals to confirm them.
Imagine being an attorney, who actually knows the law, and having to go before one of these “judges.” They then have to dumb-down their arguments before the court; so possibly they understand. Just sickening.
Well, that was good for a chuckle.
Notice that these nominees are all relatively young and if confirmed will spend YEARS AND YEARS on the bench of Yes, Master, No Master, tell us how low we must go Master!!
A disgusting bag of ill prepared recruits, chosen by traitors and mountebanks for the planned totalitarian lawless, eyeless, earless, feckless, unaccountable— to we the people— legal system.
And these flunkies will decide your fate….
That video of the q and a of judge candidates also
correlates with
spending more,
achieving less education.
( but, there are some nice athletic fields these days. uhhhh…)
With taxpayers help,
the U.S. has the highest education costs
and
incrementally lower student competency on core subjects.
We spend the most,
and
achieve less, and less…
We should be getting more education,
with less expenditures
( and some States are seeing the light of truth and gradually making performance based adjustments, over time.)
https://www.cato.org/blog/public-school-spending-theres-chart
These nominees are pathetic & just adding to the decline in trust in EVERY institution in the country
“Every one of these jurists is highly qualified and ready to serve our nation and the American people.” ~ Senator Dick Durbin, Chairman of Senate Judiciary Committee
Dick,….. really? Try to pay attention. There’s gonna be a quiz later on,…. and as usual,…. you’re gonna fail just as these nitwits failed.
If these are the chosen few, what must the others be like.
Just think, their cohorts in the medical profession will be operating on you and yours, and flying planes with you as a passenger. Shudder.
It’s amazing that of the five judges nominated, two of them appear to be mature white guys. The woman(?) from Washington memorized her resume quite well and deflected any “real” answers to Sen. Kennedy’s questions with reasons she should NOT be confirmed because she lacks real experience and qualifications. Give her, in particular, a trophy for getting there. My reason for the question mark is that I don’t want to be judged for assumptions based on appearance.
Pretty much what we’d expect. Thanks for the receipts. Diversity hiring was a nightmare from the very start, and now ‘equity’ has suited up to destroy whatever remains.