Amy Coney Barrett has already disqualified herself as a legitimate member of federal judiciary. I don’t know how a competent U.S. lawyer justifies nomination to SCOTUS from President who explicitly made it clear he depends on her vote, rather than ours, to keep him in power. 1/

But now, Barrett really seems to me to be unethical outside of the legal context. She allowed events in her honor to be held on terms that directly risked the lives not only of guests but of ordinary people who work at the WH, eg cleaners, cooks, etc. 2/

Like anybody who hasn’t yet accepted a job being offered, Barrett had leverage when she agreed to attend events surrounding her nomination. She could have said she would not participate unless all sensible health precautions taken. 3/

Is she not smart enough to understand the science related to transmission of COVID-19? That seems unlikely and if true raises a whole raft of problems with her appointment. 4/

Even if she lacks the capacity to realize the ethical wrongness of enabling events that risk making people seriously ill, Barrett once studied tort law, which holds her, like everybody, to a standard of care that should have guided her to reject carelessly endangering others. 5/

I was already plenty worried about wisdom and judicial fitness of a SCOTUS nominee seemingly fine with a President who wants her to override popular sovereignty to keep him in power. Now, I am sick at the prospect of a justice complicit in obviously life threatening events. 6/6