The Booker Doctrine (& proviso)

Among notable doctrines in American history we must count the Monroe Doctrine, the Freeport Doctrine, the Truman Doctrine, the Carter Doctrine, and the Reagan Doctrine. Most of these are presidential foreign-policy doctrines, but not all of them. The Freeport Doctrine is attributable to Senator Stephen Douglas.

To these I would add the Booker Doctrine. The Booker Doctrine is implicit in his disgusting interrogation of Trump judicial nominee Neomi Rao when in her appearance yesterday before the Senate Judiciary Committee (video below, transcript here). Under the Booker Doctrine, those who hold orthodox Jewish or Christian beliefs in sexual morality are unfit to hold judicial office. They are, more generally, unfit for public life.

The logic of the Booker Doctrine extends to those who hold orthodox Islamic beliefs in sexual morality, but there is an unspoken exemption for Muslims. Call it the Booker Proviso. I understand the rationale, but someone really ought to ask Senator Booker to flesh it out for us.

Senator Booker presents an egregious case of religious bigotry in the heart of the Democratic Party. He is perfectly representative of the party and its ruling passions. Although he denies the gist of his doctrine — what a coward he is — he does us the favor of displaying the bigotry in public for all with eyes to see. Attention ought to be paid. To quote a phrase from Churchill, the consequences of the Booker Doctrine “will travel far with us along our road[.]”

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses