Sen. Kennedy Humiliates Another Biden Judicial Nominee
PJ Media | March 21, 2024 | Matt Margolis

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) gave us another amusing demonstration of his ability to humiliate Joe Biden’s unqualified judicial nominees during Wednesday’s confirmation hearing.

United States District Judge Nancy Maldonado of the Northern District of Illinois, who has been nominated by Joe Biden for a spot on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, had previously signed a brief supporting a ban on “assault weapons” in Illinois state courts in the 2010s, yet, when he asked her to define “assault weapons,” she couldn’t.

“You said, ‘assault weapons may be banned because they’re extraordinarily dangerous and are not appropriate for legitimate self-defense purposes,’” Kennedy said. “Tell me what you meant by assault weapons.”

“Just to clarify there, I was local counsel—” Maldonado said

“But you wrote the brief, tell me what you meant by assault weapons,” he pressed.

“Senator Kennedy, I actually I did not write the brief. The brief was written by—”

“You signed the brief, though, didn’t you?”

“Correct, I signed the brief,” she conceded.

“When you sign a brief you’re testifying to the court that everything in it is true, right?”

Maldonado also agreed with Kennedy’s characterization that as far as the court is concerned, since she signed the brief, the words were hers.

“Tell me what you meant by assault weapons,” Kennedy said.

“So, I am not a gun expert,” Maldonado responded.

…

Kennedy followed up by pointing out that she gave the court advice, essentially claiming to be an expert and advised that assault weapons should be banned.

“Just tell me what you wanted to ban,” he told her.

Sigh. Like passing laws to ban “hate speech.”