At 4:30 5:30 this afternoon, the Senate is set to vote on a motion to invoke cloture on the controversial nomination of left-wing Georgetown law professor Cornelia Pillard to a D.C. Circuit vacancy. As I’ve noted, folks who know Pillard well have described her to me as “Reinhardt in a skirt but less moderate” (that’s a reference to Ninth Circuit arch-activist Stephen Reinhardt) and as someone who threatens to be “the most left-wing judge in the history of the Republic.”
I’ve written a five-part series of posts (see parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5) on Pillard’s nomination and record as well as two posts on her false and deceptive testimony. Here’s a rough guide:
Part 1: Rush to hearing prevents full review of Pillard’s record.
Part 2: Pillard shows all the signs of a pro-abortion extremist.
Part 3: Pillard’s vague standards of “egalitarian sex education” invite federal judicial micromanagement of the sex-education curricula of public schools and reveal her aggressive view of judicial power.
Part 4: Pillard’s constitutional argument against abstinence-only sex education is replete with illogic and with an ideologue’s dogmatic vision of reality.
Part 5: Pillard is an extremist against religious liberty.
Testimony, part 1: Pillard’s false and deceptive testimony about her sex-education article.
Testimony, part 2: Other false and deceptive statements by Pillard at her hearing.
On Patricia Millett’s separate nomination to the D.C. Circuit, Democratic senator Patrick Leahy and others have attempted to use Millett’s husband (specifically, his military service) in support of her nomination. So by that standard it’s surely appropriate to highlight that Pillard’s husband is law professor David Cole, who, among other things, has been a leading critic on the Left on the national-security issues on which the D.C. Circuit plays an important role.