One of Joe Biden’s staffers suggested Monday that Orthodox Catholics, Jews, and Muslims should be disqualified from serving on the Supreme Court due to their “intolerant” views.
Biden campaign Deputy Data Director Nikitha Rai criticized Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett’s religious views in a Twitter conversation Monday night with Brookings Institute Senior Fellow Shadi Hamid.
“Wait, why is this news? Isn’t this the standard position for any orthodox Catholic?” Hamid asked about a tweet saying that Barrett was a trustee at a Catholic school that opposed same-sex marriage and said homosexual acts are “at odds with Scripture.”
“Unfortunately yes,” Rai responded.
Biden should fire Nikitha Rai, his deputy data director who said Orthodox Catholics, Jews and Muslims should not be allowed to serve on the Supreme Court-wants for future “those types of beliefs are so taboo they’re disqualifiers”.Biden should fire him for anti-religious bigotry.
— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) September 29, 2020
Hamid noted that Orthodox Muslims and Jews also share this belief, to which Rai replied, “True. I’d heavily prefer views like that not be elevated to SCOTUS, but unfortunately, our current culture is relatively intolerant. It will be a while before those types of beliefs are so taboo that they’re disqualifiers.”
Here’s a @JoeBiden staffer saying that orthodox Christianity, Islam, and Judaism should be made “taboo” and driven from the public sphere. Beneath all the talk of “interfaith” and “pluralism,” this is what they really believe. pic.twitter.com/PrN8S1qaLG
— Jeremy McLellan (@JeremyMcLellan) September 29, 2020
Rai has since locked her Twitter account.
Her comments come amid criticism of Barrett’s faith. Barrett’s 2017 confirmation hearings gained national attention when some Democrats suggested that her Catholicism made her unfit to serve as a judge, and more recently, critics have called Barrett’s Catholic faith “extreme” and cult-like.
Media outlets have also attempted to link a Catholic group associated with Barrett to the fictional dystopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
Meanwhile, Sleepy Joe Biden frequently references his own Catholic faith and the media often calls Biden a “devout Catholic.” Critics note that Biden supports policies that are explicitly opposed to Catholic teachings, such as abortion and same-sex marriage.
With just hours until the first presidential debate, the Biden campaign has yet to respond to requests on Rai’s remarks.