President Trump’s nominee to take the seat on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals vacated by Brett Kavanaugh, Neomi Rao, had a contentious confirmation hearing today. This was to be expected. Ms. Rao is an authority on regulations and regulatory affairs and she isn’t a big fan of overbearing government turning citizens into serfs by use of their administrative power. Ms. Rao is a squeaky clean nominee and so the Democrats have had to go back to articles she wrote for a college newspaper. In one particularly scandalous one she opined that if women didn’t get snot-slinging drunk at parties they might have a statistically significant smaller chance of being sexually assaulted. She also wrote about the noble sport of “dwarf tossing.” (Reason’s Shoshana Weissmann has the rundown.)

As was to be expected there was a lot of dumbf***ery from Mazie Hirono who literally accused Rao of supporting dwarf tossing but the ringmaster of this circus was Spartacus, himself, that is, New Jersey Senator, presidential aspirant, and public possessor of an unnamed and unseen girlfriend who is presumably not named Tbone, Cory Booker.

BOOM!!

Booker: "Have you ever had LGBTQ law clerks?"

Neomi Rao: "I've not been a judge, I don't have clerks."

CB: "I'm sorry, someone working for you"

NR: "I don't know the sexual orientation of my staff. I take people as they come, irrespective of race or sexual orientation" pic.twitter.com/bqzbjexJAo

— Social Distancing Guru (@AdamJLowy) February 5, 2019

Then he went where Democrats have been going for a few years, he attempted to make possessing any religious convictions (for the record, I really have no idea what her religion is, her parents were Zoroastrians, her husband has what appears to be a Eastern European Jewish surname though I don’t know what his actual religion is) a disqualification for the federal judiciary.

Here is the video of Cory Booker grilling U.S. Court of Appeals nominee Neomi Rao’s views on the morality or sinfulness of gay relationships.pic.twitter.com/mHVxKv6hpz

— JERRY DUNLEAVY (@JerryDunleavy) February 5, 2019

And Ted Cruz weighed in:

.@senjudiciary shouldn’t be a theater for mischaracterizing or twisting nominees' records or views, nor should it be an avenue for persecution. We’ve seen a growing pattern among Democrats of hostility to religious faith…This committee is not a theological court of inquisition. pic.twitter.com/fR0DBoWtXX

— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) February 5, 2019

SEN. TED CRUZ: The Senate Judiciary Committee should not be a theater for mischaracterizing or twisting nominees’ records or views, nor should it be an avenue for persecution.

We’ve seen a growing pattern among Senate Democrats of hostility to religious faith. I have to say, I was deeply troubled a few minutes ago to hear questioning of a nominee, asking your personal views on what is sinful.
In my view that has no business in this committee. Article Six of the Consitution says there should be no religious test for any public office. We have also seen Senate Democrats attack what they have characterized as religious dogma, we’ve seen Senate Democrats attack nominees for their own personal views on salvation.

I don’t believe this is a theological court of inquisition. I think the proper avenue of investigation is a nominee’s record. So let’s look at your record, which is what this committee should be looking at, not our own personal religious views, or your religious views, whatever they may be.

Booker didn’t come off looking very bright or even well-briefed. He may have acquired a secret girlfriend to bolster his presidential bid but it would have served him better to have found a staff that could even buy a clue.

When questioning nominee Neomi Rao, Cory Booker:
—Stepped on a rake by asking if she hired LGBTQ law clerks (she’s not a judge & has no clerks)
—Violated the prohibition against religious tests by asking her views on the sinfulness of gay relationships
—Got dunked on by Ted Cruz

— JERRY DUNLEAVY (@JerryDunleavy) February 5, 2019