Amy Coney Barrett is intelligent and quick-witted, and she demonstrated that to great effect while answering a simple question during her confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
Throughout the process, Barrett has had very little sitting in front of her with the exception of a singular notepad. At one point, Texas Senator John Cornyn couldn’t help but notice how cluttered everyone’s space is with notebooks, documents, and more on their side while her desk only sported a singular notepad.
“You know most of has multiple notebooks and notes and books and things like that in front of us,” said Cornyn. “Can you hold up you’ve been referring to in answering our questions?”
She did as requested and presented a notepad that had absolutely nothing written on it.
“Is there anything on it?” asked Cornyn.
Without skipping a beat, Barrett answered like a boss.
“That letterhead that says “United States Senate”,” she said smiling.
“That’s impressive,” responded Cornyn.
JUDGE AMY CONEY BARRETT! #thuglife pic.twitter.com/CqdGKflRKN
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) October 13, 2020
In short, she’s been improvising her answers all along and recalling things without any need to reference back to any notes. To repeat Cornyn, that’s impressive.
Everyone else seemed to think so too.
When asked to hold up what she’s been using to help answer questions, Judge Amy Coney Barrett holds up a blank notepad.
Yes, she’s THAT smart. 👑 pic.twitter.com/lXnbsYSNAh
— Abigail Marone 🇺🇸 (@abigailmarone) October 13, 2020
“Is there anything on your notes?”
“The letterhead that says U.S. Senate.”
Amy Coney Barrett doesn’t play 🔥🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/JcyCUoTHnD
— Cabot Phillips (@cabot_phillips) October 13, 2020
Legendary pic.twitter.com/ZLASdwNtHg
— Alexandra DeSanctis (@xan_desanctis) October 13, 2020
Barrett has spent quite a bit of time being denounced and lied about, especially from the Senators she’s being questioned by. Despite all the nonsense being flung her way, the one thing you can’t say about her is that she is, by any measure, a stupid person. She has consistently demonstrated a level of intelligence that would fit well in such a high position as the Supreme Court.
She’ll fit right in. She’s been referred to as a “female Scalia,” a title that some were hoping she’d find insulting but, instead, found somewhat endearing.
“I would say that Justice Scalia was a mentor. As I said when I accepted the president’s nomination that his philosophy is mine, too,” she told ABC News. “He was a very eloquent defender of originalism and it was also true of textualism, which is the way that I approach statutes and their interpretation and similarly to what I just said about originalism.”
Still, she makes it clear that she’s her own woman.
“If I’m confirmed, you would not be getting Justice Scalia, you would be getting Justice Barrett,” she added.
(READ: The Real Reason Democrats Want to Stop Amy Coney Barrett)
