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I have an interesting little story to tell. It's a story about America in the 1990s. Specifically, it's about Catholics in America in the 1990s. Pope John Paul II is a character. So is Dianne Feinstein. But the most interesting characters are Joe Biden and Amy Coney Barrett....
...The zeitgeist in 1991 America was different from now when it comes to criminal justice. Everyone in both parties was trying to be "tough on crime." This is the time that gave us Rudy Giuliani. A governor of Virginia won by promising to end parole....
...Dark Knight was the biggest comic book of the past decade. Falling Down struck a chord.
...And amid this fear of crime and desire for retribution, Joe Biden was a man of the age. Specifically, he was the champion of capital punishment.
Biden bragged that his crime bill was said to have the death penalty for every offense but jaywalking. https://c-span.org/video/?c4784089/user-clip-biden-death-penalty-jaywalking
Biden bragged that his crime bill was said to have the death penalty for every offense but jaywalking. https://c-span.org/video/?c4784089/user-clip-biden-death-penalty-jaywalking
...When Republicans were holding up one of his crime bills, which massively expanded the death penalty, Biden pleaded “Don't give it a death warrant. Allow the death penalty to survive.” https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/flashback-amy-coney-barrett-and-the-pope-against-biden-on-the-death-penalty
...Biden passed his bill, creating 50 or 60 new capital offenses ought to fix what ails the country, Biden reasoned. It was popular.
But the Catholic Church doesn’t adopt the mores and sentiments of the day. “Be not conformed to this age,” St. Paul wrote to the Romans....
But the Catholic Church doesn’t adopt the mores and sentiments of the day. “Be not conformed to this age,” St. Paul wrote to the Romans....
...Pope John Paul II, in the months after Biden's death-penalty bill, published an encyclical titled "Evangelium Vitae." The Gospel of Life.
The Pope inveighed against the death penalty: it should never be used when other means can keep the public safe. http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031995_evangelium-vitae.html
The Pope inveighed against the death penalty: it should never be used when other means can keep the public safe. http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031995_evangelium-vitae.html
... So while the age was calling for retribution, the Church was calling for mercy.
Biden was with the age. It wouldn't be the last time he felt untethered by his church's teachings.
But the teachings spoke louder in the heart of Amy Coney. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/flashback-amy-coney-barrett-and-the-pope-against-biden-on-the-death-penalty
Biden was with the age. It wouldn't be the last time he felt untethered by his church's teachings.
But the teachings spoke louder in the heart of Amy Coney. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/flashback-amy-coney-barrett-and-the-pope-against-biden-on-the-death-penalty
...In this decade of retribution and law and order, Amy Coney and her law prof wrote a paper concluding that a Catholic trial judge, must--if I can reuse St. Paul's words--not be conformed to this age....
... Biden may have added carjackings & drive-bys to the list of death penalties, but a Catholic judge could not licitly order a man killed for this crime, or any other capital offense.
On the other hand, a Catholic judge couldn't substitute her own conscience for the law...
On the other hand, a Catholic judge couldn't substitute her own conscience for the law...
... So Coney and Prof. Garvey concluded that a Catholic trial judge must recuse herself if the law called on her to enter an execution order.
Be not conformed to this age. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/flashback-amy-coney-barrett-and-the-pope-against-biden-on-the-death-penalty
Be not conformed to this age. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/flashback-amy-coney-barrett-and-the-pope-against-biden-on-the-death-penalty
In her 2017 confirmation to the circuit court, this article earned Barrett the scorn of Feinstein and Sen. Mazie Hirono, who asserted that it was defending an illegitimate imposition of her religious values. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/flashback-amy-coney-barrett-and-the-pope-against-biden-on-the-death-penalty
Whether Hirono or Feinstein understood it or not, they were arguing Catholic judge should be compelled to sentence to death the people whom Biden’s law would put to death. Biden's law prescribed the death penalty for drive-by shootings and car-jackings. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/flashback-amy-coney-barrett-and-the-pope-against-biden-on-the-death-penalty
