Judicial Watch founder and conservative former federal prosecutor Larry Klayman supports Chicago Circuit Court Judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill a soon-to-be vacated Supreme Court seat — but thinks Democrats are “already trying to smear her.”
In remarks Tuesday on Newsmax TV’s “Newsmax Now,” Klayman said he likes that Barrett — reportedly one of President Donald Trump’s leading contenders for nomination — is not a graduate of either Harvard or Yale law schools.
“From what I’ve read about her, I like Judge Barrett,” Klayman said. “She's obviously a woman. That’s good. Politically it’s going to be hard for the Democrats to have much objection to her. But they’re already trying to smear her” over her Catholic faith.
“She also has the right credentials, and I like the fact that she went to the University of Notre Dame Law School instead of Harvard or Yale…. [which] are very leftist.”
He also blasted Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein for her criticism of Barrett in 2017 when she went before the Senate Judiciary Committee after she was appointed by Trump to the Court of Appeals. At the time, Feinstein questioned whether Barrett’s religion would have any impact on her rulings from the bench.
“It’s a bigoted statement,” he said. “It’s unbelievable that this would be raised by Dianne Feinstein. John F. Kennedy wouldn’t have been president if people had opposed him on his Catholic faith.”
Klayman also railed at lower courts that repeatedly knocked down Trump’s travel ban.
“When judges make a decision — particularly these leftist judges — it should be limited to the district where they're making it,” he said, adding: “And this goes back to the Supreme Court and shows why it should be important to have a strict constitutional constructionist on the court.”
“The president has lost it nearly every lower court level. And he's won consistently in front of the Supreme Court… what it tells me is that you’ve got a lot of leftist hack judges at the lower court level.”