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Saturday, November 02, 2019

Hirono Makes Bizarre Argument Against Originalist Court Nominee

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D., Hawaii) attacked a judicial nominee Wednesday, charging that he would rule against suffrage for blacks and women if a hypothetical U.S. Constitution banned them from voting.

Hirono took issue with Trump judicial nominee Lawrence VanDyke's statement that he would "look to the Constitution" when considering whether laws were constitutional. She said during a Judiciary Committee hearing such an approach would threaten the voting rights of minorities and women if the Constitution had not already been changed to ensure voting rights for minorities and women.

"You testified that you would look to the Constitution and what was meant in the Constitution at the time that it took effect, with enactment, ratification, whatever," Hirono said. "This was back in 1789, when blacks couldn't vote and women couldn't vote. So if the Constitution had not been amended to let women and blacks vote, you would interpret the Constitution as not allowing these groups to vote?"

"Senator, the Constitution has been amended, and I'm thankful it has been amended," VanDyke said. The 15th Amendment banned states from denying the right to vote on the basis of race in 1870, while the 19th Amendment did the same on the basis of sex in 1919.

VanDyke is a judicial conservative who advocates for "originalism," the legal philosophy that the Constitution should be interpreted in accordance with how its words would have been understood at the time of its writing.

"If the Constitution had not been amended and you're applying the Constitution as it was enacted, 1789, the Constitution had not been amended to allow women and blacks to vote. By originalism, you would have to interpret the Constitution as not allowing these groups to vote. Isn't that right?" Hirono said.

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, the racist democrooks don't like that pesky constitution.

Anonymous said...

Hawaii is a very beautiful state but the people who live there are some of the dumbest in the world as evidenced by the people they elect to represent them.

Anonymous said...

Originalists respect the amendments that followed in much the same way as the document that proceeded them.

SBJ

Anonymous said...

What a flake. Hirono sounds and acts ignorant.