Amy Coney Barret held up a blank notepad during Senate hearing and everyone's turning it into memes
By Robin ZlotnickOct. 15 2020, Updated 7:59 a.m. ET
Senate confirmation hearings are underway for Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald's Trump's pick for the Supreme Court seat that opened up just weeks before the presidential election due to the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Barrett's nomination is controversial, to say the least, thanks to her ultra-conservative views, lack of judicial experience, and apparent religious extremism and involvement with a fringe religious group called People of Praise.
Still, Republicans are ramming through her confirmation despite the fact that they fought against doing this very thing in an election year when President Obama nominated Merrick Garland to the open seat of the court in 2016. But that's not why we're here. We're here to look at some memes.
During questioning, Senator Cornyn asked Barrett to show the notes she'd been using to answer questions during the hearing. She held up a blank notepad, indicating that she brought no notes or preparation with her for her job interview for the highest court in the land. Cornyn called it "impressive" as if it meant that she knew all the answers and not, more likely, that she didn't feel the need to prepare or care about something she knew the Republicans would work hard to push through no matter what.
But you can't hold up a blank piece of paper without the internet immediately jumping up to photoshop something on that blank canvas. And people have a lot of strong feelings about Amy Coney Barrett and this whole confirmation process to begin with. So the blank notepad memes started flying immediately.
That seems to be a crude drawing of a handmaid from The Handmaid's Tale, which is relevant because of Amy Coney Barrett's involvement with People of Praise, a Christian group that enforces traditional gender roles and even used to refer to women as handmaids. Pretty dystopian if you ask me!
If you'll recall, this calendar image was what Brett Kavanaugh submitted during his confirmation hearings as evidence that he could not have possibly sexually assault Dr. Christine Blasey Ford in 1982, as if he would have written it in his calendar as a "to-do" item.
Comedian Kathy Griffin is clearly no fan of Amy Coney Barrett. She didn't even need Photoshop to make her joke.
Well, that's just the truth, isn't it?! She didn't feel the need to prepare notes or prove that she is competent and skilled enough to do the job because she knew her confirmation would be pushed through no matter what. Not to mention, having notes is not some sort of weakness! It shows effort and thoroughness in my opinion! I don't think it's at all "impressive" that she didn't have any notes whatsoever for her job interview for a spot on the highest court in the land. I think it was the opposite of impressive, in fact!
Some brands took the opportunity to advertise their own products, which, hey, you gotta hand it to them. Not to mention, That Gay Guy Candle Co. sounds legit. Some of the proceeds from their sales go toward benefitting LGBTQ+ organizations!
Of course Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation hearings should be delayed until after the American people have had the chance to choose who they want as their next president. Of course. But the Republicans are eschewing decorum, morality, and their own policy in order to ram this through and hold onto power so they can continue beating down ordinary folks for the benefit of themselves and other mega-rich people.
Judges on the Supreme Court are supposed to be fair, balanced, and unbiased. But we know from experience that this just isn't the case. And Amy Coney Barrett's positions align very closely with those of Justice Scalia, an extremely conservative "originalist" who served on the Supreme Court.
If only, if only everyone recognized that a Supreme Court justice should be an extremely experienced judge. Amy Coney Barrett has only been a federal appeals court judge since 2017. Before that, she was a law professor at Notre Dame.
Some used Amy Coney Barrett's blank notepad to meme their own life. In this case, all writers can relate to the blank nothingness that sometimes hits when you're supposed to be working.
I'm just going to put this out there once and for all: A hot dog is not a sandwich. You don't hold a sandwich's bread like a taco. If anything, a hot dog is a taco. And that's my final judgment.
The blank notepad isn't the only meme to emerge from the Amy Coney Barrett Senate confirmation hearings! A fly seemed to land on her shoulder at one point, leading people to speculate that it was the same fly that perched upon Mike Pence's head during the VP debate! I don't know. It really feels like the flies are trying to tell us something.