Bad Judgment

General consensus has been that Amy Coney Barrett is well-qualified. It's only the the process and the rank hypocrisy of Mitch McConnell (and herself) that's all wrong. I am among the radicals who disagree.

During hearings for her confirmation Senator Kamala Harris asked Barrett's opinion on climate change. She replied that it was disputed.

If you feel weak and are losing weight and suffering chronic pain, you might (if you can afford it) go see a doctor. Let's say the doctor says you have cancer; you would be reasonable to want a second opinion. The second opinion might be the same, so you try again. Let's say you belong to the wealthy class of Americans who can afford to get the opinions of 50 doctors. One of those doctors tells you that everything is fine and you should go home, get some rest, and quit worrying. The other 49 agree that you have cancer, even though some disagree on the specific type or cause.

If you stop seeking medical advice or treatment based on the opinion of the one doctor with good news, you could be accused of terrible judgment. If you decide that the cancer diagnosis is disputed, you might be technically correct, but if you choose to do nothing more, you'd still have terrible judgment. If it were one of your seven children suffering the symptoms and you chose not to care, you would be a negligent parent who deserves to have her children taken away by Child Protective Services.

If a concerned friend researches the optimistic doctor and finds that his practice was flawed, but you refuse to listen, I would challenge any sane person to vouch for your judgment.

Some of Barrett's fellow Catholics have said this is worse than bad judgment, it is moral relativism. Ms Barrett knows better, but it is pragmatic to pretend that there is no problem. Caring would be counter-productive. Better to risk widespread human catastrophe than jeopardize a dream job where she can promote the interests of the organizations that have promoted her career.

Supreme Court justices have sometimes surprised us. I see no likely surprises here. Just bad judgment.