MSNBC's Chuck Todd congratulated Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse during a break in Wednesday's Amy Coney Barrett confirmation hearings for touting a kooky left-wing conspiracy theory, exposing purportedly sinister links between the Federalist Society and the Republican Party.
According to Todd, Whitehouse must be on to something or else Ted Cruz would not have been so upset, "It does seem as if, as a political observer, I always see -- I always look to see how somebody reacts to something. And we've seen the Republican side of the aisle seems to be pretty sensitive to what you've done. We've heard Ted Cruz has twice now had to I guess play, in his mind, play cleanup for the Federalist Society."
Todd then encouraged Whitehouse to engage in some martial metaphors, "She's going to get confirmed, it looks like. But do you you're winning a messaging war if you lose the battle for the nomination?"
Whitehouse willingly complied, "I think it's a war for integrity in government and a war for transparency and a war to get some grubby special interest fingers out of places they don't belong. That’s not just messaging, that’s real and I think we need to win that war, I think it’s important that we win that war."
He continued to see something sinister in originalist legal scholars working to get originalist justices appointed to the Court, "What I object to is [The Federalist Society] being a conduit for anonymous donors who spends tens of millions Washington Post’s, $250 million, to take over and control who gets nominated to the United States Supreme Court. That is wrong. The Federalist Society should not be in that business. No private entity should be in that business and none of them should accept dark, anonymous money."
Todd readily accepted Whitehouse's view that relying on Federalist Society experts is sinister, "Right, is that a Federalist Society Problem or a Republican Party problem? They've made the decision to use the Federalist Society as their judicial vetting organization? It is now multiple White Houses, multiple Senate majorities, no?"
One assumes that if Biden were to win, he would rely on the liberals at the American Constitution Society when making his judicial nominations, which was founded as a liberal counter to the Federalist Society and was cited by President Obama during Elena Kagan's confirmation process. Interestingly enough, in that same speech he also cited the-- in Whitehouse's words--"smelly Washington think tank" known as the Federalist Society.
Here is a transcript of the October 14 show:
MSNBC
MSNBC Special Coverage: Barrett Confirmation Hearings
12:05 PM
CHUCK TODD: It does seem as if, as a political observer, I always see -- I always look to see how somebody reacts to something. And we've seen the Republican side of the aisle seems to be pretty sensitive to what you've done. We've heard Ted Cruz has twice now had to I guess play, in his mind, play cleanup for the Federalist Society. We've also seen it on the Affordable Care Act. Yet you're going to lose the battle here. She's going to get confirmed, it looks like. But do you you're winning a messaging war if you lose the battle for the nomination?
SHELDON WHITEHOUSE: I don't know that it's a messaging war. I think it's a war for integrity in government and a war for transparency and a war to get some grubby special interest fingers out of places they don't belong. That’s not just messaging, that’s real and I think we need to win that war, I think it’s important that we win that war. And let me be clear about the Federalist Society, if I may. I have no objection to the Federalist Society being out there on law school campuses gathering students together. I have no objection more than any other smelly Washington think tank to them running a smelly Washington think tank we’re surrounded by that stuff. What I object to is being a conduit for anonymous donors who spends tens of millions Washington Post’s, $250 million, to take over and control who gets nominated to the United States Supreme Court. That is wrong. The Federalist Society should not be in that business. No private entity should be in that business and none of them should accept dark, anonymous money.
TODD: Right, is that a Federalist Society Problem or a Republican Party problem? They've made the decision to use the Federalist Society as their judicial vetting organization? It is now multiple White Houses, multiple Senate majorities, no?
WHITEHOUSE: The question is who is the "They" there. My contention would be both the Republican Party and the Federalist Society are being used by these very big, very wealthy interests and industries to try and control the judiciary. And I think it's happening to a certain extent in plain view. But the Federalist Society isn't the problem. The Federalist Society is the conduit for a dark money enterprise that is trying to run the court for us in cases they'll decide their way.
