Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) took a Biden judicial nominee to the woodshed during her stint as DC’s solicitor general. President Joe Biden nominated Loren AliKhan to become the next district judge for the District of Columbia. Ms. AliKhan currently serves on the DC Court of Appeals. Hawley says he always asks nominees if they ever litigated against a religious liberty claim to which most say no, but Judge AliKhan has been involved in multiple cases.
AliKhan was involved in the Capitol Hill Baptist Church v. Bowser, which was a COVID lockdown case. Hawley zeroed in that the policy only targeted religious gatherings. Judge AliKhan, serving as DC’s solicitor general at the time, pushed back, arguing that it was about a provision about the containment policy that restricted all types of activity in the district.
“All types of activity in the district,” Hawley asked. When AliKhan said yes, Hawley redirected, asking if it applied to mass protests in the district.
Again, AliKhan attempted to clarify that the provision was related to normal daily activities, like going to work, shopping, and churchgoing, to which Hawley responded, "So, it exempted unusual or unlikely activities in the statute that’s in the ordinance.”
AliKhan could only respond by saying that at the outset of the pandemic, the mayor’s office was trying to be as comprehensive as possible regarding containing the pathogen vis-à-vis daily activities.
That’s all well, but what about the hordes of protesters who swarmed the city and were encouraged by Democrats and liberal media figures? Yet, the person who wants to keep their restaurant open or pray at church is selfish and could spread the disease. Hawley exposed the hypocrisy of the ‘stay home, save lives’ mantra the political class drummed up to keep us locked inside our homes over a virus with a 99-plus percent survival rate.
Senator @HawleyMO: "Do you think it's wrong to discriminate on the basis of religious faith?"
— Carrie Severino (@JCNSeverino) June 7, 2023
Biden’s district judge nominee for D.C Loren AliKhan: "Absolutely."
Senator Hawley: "Then why did you argue that religious services and religious people pose a greater risk of… pic.twitter.com/lqMPt3Q8x4
AliKhan later said the omission of mass protests was due to the mayor’s office not contemplating the issue, sparking Hawley to ask if the judge felt that mass protests should be a separate category as a religious observance.
Hawley did well to expose the nonsensical position Democrats took on mass protests by endorsing them during the 2020 election, in the thick of the pandemic—but was like hell on wheels toward people who wanted to go to church outside while wearing masks and being socially distanced.
The lockdown ordinance was later struck down as unconstitutional, which AliKhan tried to mask her defeat in legalese which Hawley took exception to, begging the judge not to play these games. The Missouri Republican later went through the timeline of the ordinance’s demise, which included Mayor Bowser attending mass protests in the city while denying churchgoers their right to congregate for services. Of course, he's not voting to approve her nomination.