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A Beautiful Moment and Tribute for Judge Barrett
Laura Wolk clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas. A student taught by Amy Coney Barrett, and a graduate of the Notre Dame Law School. The video speaks for itself.
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Published in General
Wow! That is really impressive.
Thanks @Doug Watt. A beautiful moment. How many of us would be proud to just be remembered for that!
Wow. That was incredibly moving.
I’ll betcha the Dems are looking for a disgruntled student to make a statement, but only after the committee vote is announced. When you’re trying to slimeball someone, timing is everything . . .
What a remarkable woman (both of them!)!
After the year that 2020 has proven to be, this was sure a nice pick-me-up. Made my day.
What an eloquent women. Kudos to Justice Thomas as well, another really impressive person.
InMy next job interview, I’m gonna ask Her to be a “personal reference.”
Character matters.
What a beautiful tribute. Thanks for sharing @dougwatt.
Magnificent is the best word I can come up with as I sit here with tears streaming down my face. What an inspirational young woman.
Wow. Just wow.
Leaned forward and looked at me intently?
Judge Barrett is a good person. Laura Wolk is good too. Just when it seemed like the officialdom is chock-full of jackals and grifters, these two individuals show up. These two shining lights put the shameful behavior of some senators into sharp relief. If they had any integrity, these senators would hang their heads in shame and retire from the field.
I would assume that Ms. Wolk knowing that she was in a private meeting with Professor Barrett, and being well-read might have used that description to describe the scene based upon what she had read about in literature, and the discussion as it took place in Professor Barrett’s office.
If Amy Coney Barrett is not confirmed, can we appoint her as a superhero?
Seriously, she is a real class act – a genius intellect, a genuinely kind and gracious person
I imagine most blind people get used to using their ears for direction finding more than sighted people do. Someone leaning closer and aiming their face directly at your head sounds a bit different compared to someone sitting back and listening to you.
“Laura,” she said, “This is no longer your problem, it’s now my problem” 2:48 point
Yes, that puzzled me.
For some reason this passage from the Gospel of John comes to mind: “. . . that the works of God might be made manifest. . .”
“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds….
James, Chapter 2:14-19
ACB’s faith is likely the catalyst for her deeds.
Yes, people of no faith do good deeds as well.
But I bet ACB views such deeds as the natural “action step” of her faith. It goes something like…God loves me while I am a yet worthless sinner, I am commanded to love God with all me heart, mind, soul and strength and I am commanded to love my neighbor…performing works for my neighbor is a show of love that reflects God’s love for me.
Incredible – thank you for sharing! I had heard about her testimony but hadn’t watched it yet. This makes me want to be a better teacher, myself.
Well, that didn’t make me cry. At all.
Nice. I will now have to live up to that standard myself if something like that comes my way.
LOL, I caught that too. Perhaps she intuited Barret’s motions. I find the testimony sincere.
Can anyone tell me what kind of instrument Wolk is running her fingers across? What exactly is it doing?
Has there been a better nominee for Supreme Court than Amy Coney Barrett?
I can’t think of any
Two extraordinary women
I take the point, but this description coming from a blind person makes sense to me. It’s possible to hear, or sense, someone leaning forward purely from audio clues. Taken literally, looked at me intently coming from a blind person gives us pause, but there is a lot of context here which makes an apt phrase. First, a blind person adopts the language of the sighted world she lives in. She says things like Great to see you rather than Great to hear you — or, in this case, looked at me intently rather than spoke to me intently. Second, Wolk is recalling an exchange that was deeply meaningful to her, one that she’s likely reflected on many times over the years. Looked at me intently conveys the heartfeltness of the memory with an economy of language that sacrifices only a little precision. Given that heartfeltness, not precision, is the point of the telling, this is a fine choice of phrase. Third, Wolk has now known ACB for many years. Just as a sighted person comes to know that look on your face, I suspect a blind person comes to glean the intensity of a close friend or colleague over time. Given how sharp Wolk appears to be, I’d bet money that ACB did look at her intently that day.
Textualism doesn’t mean you have to interpret every word literally. There is stupid textualism and sensible textualism.
Freedom of speech doesn’t literally mean only your “speech” is protected but other forms of expression can be censored by the state.
I understand. But if Wolk had been testifying against Barrett and said Barrett “looked at me contemptuously” would we take that as good evidence that Barrett patronizes the blind?
I’d take it as evidence of bias. I take what Wolk actually said as bias as well, independent of her disability.
But I wasn’t arguing that she wasn’t biased. Character witnesses are biased by definition. I was simply explaining why I found her choice of words (“looked at me intently”) apt, despite her blindness.
It’s an electronic braille reader. It takes the text that she’s typed out, and pushes up little braille “buttons.” My aunt is blind, and has one. She can read braille about as fast as I can read text, and unlike me, she doesn’t even move her lips when she gets to big words.