Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) gave us yet another hilarious demonstration of his ability to humiliate Joe Biden’s unqualified judicial nominations during the confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
Joe Biden nominated Nancy Maldonado, a United States District judge from the Northern District of Illinois for a seat on the United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit. She had signed a previous brief in support of a ban on assault weapons in Illinois state court in the 2010s. Yet, when he challenged her to define the term “assault weapon,” she was unable.
Kennedy replied: “You said that assault weapons could be banned because they are extraordinarily dangerous, and not suitable for legitimate self-defense purposes.” “What do you mean 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 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 agreed with Kennedy that, as far as the courts are concerned, she is the one who wrote the brief.
Kennedy asked, “What do you mean by assault weapons?”
“So, I am not a gun expert,” Maldonado responded. “And I believe that was around ten years ago when the brief was written.”
Kennedy then pointed out that she had given the court advice. She was essentially claiming that she was an expert and that assault weapons were to be banned.
He asked her to tell him what she wanted banned.
The term “assault weapons” is used by the left to incite fear and push for more gun control. They repeatedly show that they don’t know what an “assault weapon” is. It is mainly used to describe semi-automatic weapons with cosmetic features such as folding stocks, pistol grips, or barrel shrouds. The actual firepower or functionality of the weapon does not matter. The push to ban assault weapons is based on the misconception that they are and they look scarier.
After being embarrassed repeatedly by their lack of understanding of firearms that they want to ban, one would think that the left tries to learn about them to at least pretend that they care about the facts.
Kennedy let Maldonado have it after she reiterated that Maldonado didn’t write her brief and that she couldn’t recall the “exact description of assault weapons” in the ordinance at issue.
You signed an appeals brief and didn’t even know it. And you asked them to “abolish assault weapons” and didn’t understand what they meant by that.
The entire exchange can be viewed here:
WATCH:@SenJohnKennedy: “You said, ‘assault weapons may be banned because they’re extraordinarily dangerous and are not appropriate for legitimate self-defense purposes.’ Tell me what you meant by assault weapons?”
Biden’s Seventh Circuit judge nominee Nancy Maldonado: “I’m not… pic.twitter.com/1ctY2E64IO
— Carrie Severino (@JCNSeverino) March 20, 2024
