5 highlights from VP debate: Court packing, White House 'super spreader' and 'fine people' claim

By Samuel Smith, Deputy Managing Editor Thursday, October 08, 2020

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks at a hearing of the Homeland Security Committee attended by acting U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan at the Capitol Building on June 25, 2020, in Washington, D.C. | Getty Images/Alexander Drago

Pence slams Harris, Dems for ‘attacks' on Christian beliefs of Trump's nominees

The vice president dodged a question about whether he would like to see Indiana outlaw abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court by calling on Senate Democrats to be “fair” in confirmation hearings related to the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.

“She is a brilliant woman and will bring a lifetime of experience and a sizable American family to the Supreme Court of the United States. Our hope is in the hearing next week, unlike what Justice [Brett] Kavanaugh received with treatment from you and others, we hope she gets a fair hearing,” he said.

“We particularly hope that we don’t see the kind of attacks on her Christian faith that we saw before,” he added. “The Democrat chairman of the Judiciary Committee before, when Judge Barrett was being confirmed for the Court of Appeals, expressed concern that the ‘dogma of her faith lived loudly in her.’ Dick Durbin of Illinois said it was a concern.”

Pence then addressed Harris’s past questioning of Trump's judicial nominee Brian C. Buescher. In 2018, the senator asked Buescher about his affiliation with the Catholic fraternal organization Knights of Columbus and whether he knew the group “opposed a woman’s right to choose” and “opposed marriage equality.”

“Senator, I know one of our judicial nominees, you actually attacked because they were a member of the Catholic Knights of Columbus, just because the Knights of Columbus holds pro-life views and conservative views,” Pence said. “My hope is that when the hearing takes place, that Judge Amy Coney Barrett will be treated respectfully, voted and confirmed to the Supreme Court of the United States.”

Harris responded by saying that both she and Biden are “people of faith.”

“It is insulting to suggest that we would knock anyone for their faith,” Harris argued. “In fact, Joe, if elected, will be only the second practicing Catholic as president of the United States.”