A judicial nominee faced questions from Senators this month about whether membership in the Knights of Columbus might impede his ability to judge federal cases fairly. The Knights of Columbus say that no candidate for public office should have to defend his membership in a Catholic service organization.
Senators Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Kamala Harris (D-CA) raised concerns about membership in the Knights of Columbus while the Senate Judiciary Committee reviewed the candidacy of Brian C. Buescher, an Omaha-based lawyer nominated by President Trump to sit on the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska.
Senators also asked whether belonging to the Catholic charitable organization could prevent judges from hearing cases “fairly and impartially.”
In written questions sent to Buescher by committee members Dec. 5, Sen. Hirono stated that “the Knights of Columbus has taken a number of extreme positions. For example, it was reportedly one of the top contributors to California’s Proposition 8 campaign to ban same-sex marriage.”
Hirono then asked Buescher if he would quit the group if he was confirmed “to avoid any appearance of bias.”
“The Knights of Columbus does not have the authority to take personal political positions on behalf of all of its approximately two million members,” Buescher responded.
“If confirmed, I will apply all provisions of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges regarding recusal and disqualification,” he said.
President Trump nominated Buescher to serve on the U.S. District Court on Nov. 3. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Buescher’s nomination Nov. 28, sending written questions to him on Dec. 5.
In her questions to the nominee, Sen. Harris described the Knights as “an all-male society” and asked if Buescher was aware that the Knights of Columbus “opposed a woman’s right to choose” and were against “marriage equality” when he joined.
Responding to the senator’s questions, Buescher confirmed that he has been a member of the Knights since he was 18 years old, noting that his membership “has involved participation in charitable and community events in local Catholic parishes.”
“I do not recall if I was aware whether the Knights of Columbus had taken a position on the abortion issue when I joined at the age of 18,” he wrote in response.
Harris raised a statement from Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson, who said that abortion constituted “the killing of the innocent on a massive scale” and asked Buescher if he agreed with Anderson.
Buescher said he was not responsible for drafting statements or policies made by the Knights and that, as a federal judge, he would consider himself bound by judicial precedent regarding abortion.
Full story at Catholic News Agency.
Democrats hate faithful Catholics because Democrats stand for everything opposed to Catholic truth. Every Catholic Democrat is a phony, fake, pretend Catholic. Witness Pelosi, Newsom, Biden, Brown, Kerry and all the rest. Every single one of them is in favor of abortion and gay marriage. It’s not possible at all to be a Catholic and support those two grave evils. Case closed. The big question is why so many ordinary Catholic citizens vote for Democrats. Well, the answer is their faith is as real as the politicians they support.
Senators have a duty to question nominees about their membership in organizations. In this case, I believe the nominee responded correctly. As Senator Harris correctly noted, the Knights are an all-male organization.
Being an all male organization is only a problem for people whose agenda it is to overturn the paternalistic order that God created. You know, the sort of people who don’t believe in traditional marriage, that families and gender can be whatever one likes, that it’s OK to have same sex relations, and so forth, oh, and don’t forget, to kill innocents in the womb for whatever reason. You know people like that, don’t you?
A couple of things: (1) a good number of Democrats, such as those mentioned and including Diane Feinstein, are simply not intelligent or are not well educated; and (2) a good number of Democrats have no overarching faith; and (3) they dislike practicing Catholics. Any kind of religious “test” is against the express command of the US Constitution. Further, what they are against is anything that is other than their temporal “faith.” That is, Democrats almost entirely do not believe in freedom of religion (or speech for that matter). Everything is qualified to eliminate personal freedoms or belief in any power other than the State. Democrats should not be recognized as a legitimate political party. They revile the Constitution.
St. Christopher, let us go down the path of data vs ill-feelings. You state that most of the people in the article are simply not intelligent or not well educated. Please do a search of the members of the Senate, for example, and you will find that Senator Harris has a BA from Howard University and a JD from Hastings. Diane Feinstein has a BA from Stanford, Dick Durban has a BS from Georgetown with a double major in economics and foreign service as well as a JD from Georgetown. Neither you or anyone else can pass judgment on their overarching faith. We leave that to God! Many Democrats are Catholic, so not all of them hate us.
Bob One, you can claim that some of these people are educated but they are not wise. You can claim they are Catholic, but they will NOT defend the Truth in their public office. And don’t give me the “personally opposed” nonsense its been exposed as the fraud that it is.
Bohemond, better said. When one says someone is uneducated and they are, that is misleading. As you say, people can be well educated but not wise, which is more accurate. We, myself included, need to choose our words better. Now we need a word for people who are wise, but with whom we disagree. There is no question but that the influence of religion, in general, has dissolved into a dew. Too many people don’t believe in God anymore in the way they did in the past. Leading a “good life” seems, to them, enough to get through the narrow door; and they will define good for themselves.
Bob One anyone especially in the the political class who does not support the moral law given to us by the Triune God IS NOT WISE…..
Some appear to dislike all Democrats. Have they ever had a serious discussion with one?
No truth can be gleaned from talking to a Democrat. Hitler, like Lenin/Stalin, was a socialist. These represent the true models of the right and left of politics, which are in reality right and left wings of socialism. Hitler’s model was national socialism, Lenin/Stalin’s was international socialism. Calling Christians “Nazis” is incoherent. Hitler killed 6 million Jews, and socialism in the 20th century killed upwards of 100 million by most estimates. Demos have killed 60 million innocents in the womb in this nation since 1973. Demos follow the ideology of international socialism which incorporates the murder of Hitler.
West Coast, get your facts straight! Roe v Wade was handed down in 1973. Since then Democrats have held the presidency twenty years and the Republicans have held it for 26 years. Roe v Wade is the law of the land, even if we hate it. In its day, Hitler’s version of national socialism was considered very right wing compared to Marxism. Socialism, in its true form, wants the government/people to own all property and means of production. We know that doesn’t work very well. But, Marxism and Nazisism killed millions of people. Both are the product of nationalism created by uncontrolled capitalism.
In fact, “mike m” i have a good number of professional colleagues and family that are Ds. You don’t really state a question, but suggest that there are a number of “good” Ds. Nope.
These are people that believe, as a political sacrament, in the right to abortion, any kind, any way, for any reason. They have no issue with sexual license of any kind and of the requirement that society celebrate sexual perversity. And, they believe in something that is, at least, quasi-socialistic (that is the government is the seat of all power and has control over everything and all money). Nope; pretty much the same platform as National Socialism, Communism, and Fascism.
I’m not at all surprised that the Leftists are anti-Catholic. All extremist groups hate the Catholic Church. Kamala Harris is no exception. Comparing the Knights of Columbus to the KKK is ignorant and absurd, but they get away with it because they are loud and have power. They have convinced young people that the Catholic Church hates gay people, is against equality for women and that we are simply uneducated morons. Some of them used to be Catholic, but they went for power and money instead of faith, hope and love.
Mike M says that the Knights are an all male organization. So is the NFL.
St. Christopher
Good points!!!
Thank you, Father, and Merry Christmas to you.
Hey Harris, the Daughters of the American Revolution is an all female organization. What’s your point?
Sure sounds like Harris and Hirono should be disqualified for voting on any bills or appointments having to do with ethnicity since they are members of an ethnic minority. These two morons should study our Constitution where it’s written that a person’s religious beliefs do not disqualify one from holding a government position. They sure fit the DemocRATic Party divisiveness mold. So sad!
Love these comments, esp the NFL and the DAR. Harris should do her homework BEFORE she makes a fool of herself. Senator Hirono from Hi was the lone Senator on TV (those behind her must have been embarrassed) and said ALL women tell the truth and should be believed and ALL man are liars. Or words to that effect. Not some of them but she said “ALL women and ALL men.” I guess the snowflakes got what they wanted in these two ladies. I think we can do much, much better.
What is sad to me is that Kamala Harris considers herself as taking the high moral ground in this matter while at the same time spewing out this insane bigoted leftist tripe. And of course she is the tip of a giant iceberg toward which the Catholic Church has hit going at full speed while our leaders are adjusting the deck chairs. Why does it take a Ben Shapiro or Jordan Peterson to attack this insidious new learning? When is Pope Francis going to man up and take on this insanity? That said, Merry Christmas Kamala Harris. I hope and pray you think of your eternal soul today for the sake of which Christ was born.
Why is there a question mark at the end of the headline for this story?
And people wonder why Trump was a better choice than these people….
Senator Schumer said similar things about Judge Prior a few years back during Prior’s Senate confirmation hearing. Prior was not confirmed then, but later appointed by Bush Jr. in a recess appointment. Whenever the Senate returns to Democratic control, faithful Catholics will not be confirmed for judgeships.
And no one wants to have the discussion that Senator Harris was former assembly speaker Willie Brown’s mistress for years when he was still married.
Their comments are open and frontal attacks on Catholics but do you think you will hear one Bishop anywhere in the state of California speak up and defend Catholic manhood and defend the Knights of Columbus? of course you will never hear a Catholic bishop in California defending such things because they are all controlled by the Democratic party. The Democratic party funds numerous social welfare programs throughout various diocese in California. What a sorry state of Catholicism here in the Golden State. Father Sarah must be weeping in heaven.
Central Valley, get your facts straight. The Democratic party does not fund social welfare programs in the dioceses in California. The Federal Government put welfare out to bid, and generally, Catholic Charities bids on those that meet a need in the local area. That is how these activities are funded in our country. Most other denominations also bid for these funding dollars. No program that is conducted with Federal monies by Catholic Charities is counter to Catholic teaching. It would be interesting to know what you mean by defending Catholic manhood?
Do you include CCHD, “Bob One?” If you do, then you are entirely incorrect. From current literature put out by the Lepanto Institute, Life Site News, and others, the CCHD is rife with policies that favor grants to organizations that support abortion. Moreover, other charitable organizations that received money from the Catholic Church appear to also support abortion and homosexuality, among other things.
Central Valley, that should be Fr. Serra in your last sentence, but I am sure Cardinal Sarah, the good man he is, is weeping too at all this too.
Like Gloria Steinem these two women Kamala Harris and Maisy Hirono ended up fatherless, but unlike Mother Angela, who was also brought up fatherless, the experience seemed to harden them to the core. Senator Hirono has breast cancer, but perhaps no one has had the honesty or courage to tell her that the contraception pill (aka birth control pill) and abortions help exacerbate breast cancer. I pray God take the binders off her eyes, and she sees what they are doing is wrong for both women and and babies.
It also brings to mind the children’s story “Horton Hatches the Egg”, and how it all turned out NOT to Maisy’s liking.
Actually, a lot of conservative republicans hate Catholics as well. One need only to attend a service at a conservative, evangelical church to hear anti-Catholic rhetoric on full display. How do I know this? Because I converted to Catholicism from evangelical Christianity about two years ago. The majority of my former congregants were conservative Christians and conservative republicans. The hate for Catholics, the poor and people of color was more than I could bear.
They may be republicans, but they’re not “conservative.” Liberalism at is core is sin, i.e., a liberal view of the Ten Commandments, Martin Luther’s idea that sin is not something to worry about. The Democrat party is the party of slavery, George Wallace and the KKK. That’s not conservative. Liberalism always devolves into totalitarianism. As a system of man made rights, it conflicts with the Natural Law, so any assertion of the Natural law becomes an infringement and is criminalized. Hitler was a socialist, and came to power when the Weimar Republic had an abortion rate comparable to that of the U.S., and was highly homosexualized.
West Coast, you must be very young. In the 1960s Republicans, especially those from the Northeast were the liberals of the day, and the Democrats in the South were the conservatives. Party platforms change over the years, as the culture changes. We know that abortion is against the teachings of the Church, for example, but the majority of women in the US believe they have a choice. Women are the majority in colleges now. Women are gaining a majority in most grad schools, especially business schools. The culture is changing. A Roosevelt liberal is today pretty much a conservative.
You don’t even know what liberalism is. Read “Liberalism is a Sin” by Fr. Felix Sarda Y Salvany, available from Tanbooks.com. It was written in 1899. I was born since then.
West Coast: oh no! They were conservatives. Big believers in the prosperity gospel.
How does somebody who opposes Catholicism, the poor and who seeks to oppress, qualify as conservative? They don’t. They’re deluding themselves, and are confused. How are Christians called Nazis? How is Trump called Hitler? How can Hitler, Christians and conservatives all be called “right wing”? Hitler was not a conservative, he was a socialist, like Stalin, only his methods were different. True conservatism is grounded in truth, and truth is most perfectly embodied in the Catholic faith. I wouldn’t compliment the people you describe by calling them conservative. If they were truly conservative you wouldn’t have left them. Think harder and read more would be my advice. Thanks.
I am surprised how many conservative Catholics do not know of the social teachings of the Church. Many of them have only heard of the papal encyclical Humanae Vitae. When I’ve asked my conservative friends about Fides et Ratio or Populorum Progressio, they have no idea – never heard of them. Many Conservative Catholics are CINOs- Catholics in Name Only! Catholicism is convenient for them politically, personally and socially.
Two flea-bitten marginal tails wagging the mainstream thoroughbred. Oh, rue the day.
Foreigner Hirono, from Japan, came to radical and marginal Hawaii before statehood.
Harris, born in third-world Oakland to recent immigrants — Jamaican dad, East Indian mom, but raised in Quebec by her mother. Her intro to the US was radical marginal Howard University in Wash, DC. From there it was off to radical San Francisco and the rest is history.
West Coast: may I suggest you broaden the scope of the books you read as well? To claim liberalism is a sin is like asserting Jesus would be a card carrying member of the Republican Party.
Nonsense, most if not all moral positions supported by liberals are against Christianity and the Catholic Church in particular
You don’t know what liberalism is. Read “Liberalism is a Sin” by Fr. Felix Sarda Y Salvany (1899), available from Tanbooks.com. Try also “Grand Orient Freemasonry Unmasked” By Mgr. George E. Dillon DD. (1885) available from Omnicbc.com.