By Randall Smith, The Catholic Thing, Oct. 8, 2020
Randall B. Smith is a tenured Full Professor of Theology. His book Reading the Sermons of Thomas Aquinas: A Guidebook for Beginners is available from Emmaus Press. And his book Aquinas, Bonaventure, and the Scholastic Culture at Paris: Preaching, Prologues, and Biblical Commentary is due out from Cambridge University Press in the fall.
Note: TCT Editor-in-Chief Robert Royal will join the other members of the EWTN “Papal Posse” – Raymond Arroyo and Fr. Gerald Murray – on The World Over at 8 PM ET Tonight to discuss the latest papal encyclical, new scandals in the Vatican, and much more.
The vilification has begun. Amy Coney Barrett is a “white colonizer,” a “Handmaid’s Tale” puppet of the patriarchy, and/or a “**ing nut.” And the attempts to torpedo Judge Barrett’s nomination will only get worse. They may even extend beyond the close of the hearings if someone thinks that by floating a sleazy piece of unsubstantiated and unprovable gossip, he or she can delay the Senate vote long enough to keep Judge Barrett off the court.
Why are we subjected to this disgusting display of vilification and character assassination each time a conservative is nominated for the Supreme Court? Liberal nominees are never treated this way. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was approved by a 96 to 3 vote of the Senate, and no one told stories about how she prayed or raised her children. But we all know what is coming for Judge Barrett. The “opposition research” people are looking for any detail they think they can spit at Barrett in the media to see whether it will stick, a blood sport invented by that very “civil and decent” man, Joe Biden, along with another liberal Catholic, Ted Kennedy, in their trashing of Robert Bork. ….