Biden Judicial Nominee Who Defended Church Closures During COVID Faces Grilling From Sen. Hawley

Yet another hearing involving a Joe Biden judicial nominee turned out to be a disaster for them, this most recent one featuring Loren AliKhan, an associate judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Back in early May, Biden announced the nomination of AliKhan to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

In the 2020 case of Capitol Hill Baptist Church vs. Bowser, Alikhan defended Bowser, who was being sued by the city for its restrictions on worship ceremonies. The church was denied an exception waiver at the same time the city was actively encouraging mass protests following the death of George Floyd. A federal judge ruled in the church’s favor in October 2020, allowing them to gather for worship again. 

During a judiciary hearing, Sen. Josh Hawley interrogated AliKhan over prior arguments she made in favor of closing churches on the basis that religious Americans were more likely to spread COVID. 

“Do you think it’s wrong to discriminate on the basis of religious faith?” Hawley asked.

“Absolutely,” AliKhan said. 

“Then why did you argue that religious services and religious people pose a greater risk of infection than people gathered to argue for defunding the police?” Hawley replied.

AliKhan tried to explain that she thought singing at church would boost the spread of COVID, which Hawley followed up by asking why she didn’t submit any scientific evidence to the record in making those arguments. 

“You pressed these arguments over and over and over without any foundation. Frankly, I’m disappointed that you made those arguments, you can choose what arguments to make. I’m disappointed that you’ve persisted in defending them here today and for that reason, among others, I will not support your nomination.”

Watch the full exchange below: 

At another point in the hearing, relating to the same topic, Hawley pressed AliKhan on why the COVID restrictions on religious organizations that she supported were struck down as discriminatory, prompting a Karine Jean-Pierreesque series of excuses. 

““Oh, come on judge, don’t make me do this,” Hawley fired back. “Do you want me to go through it for you? You lost this because Mayor Bowser was going to mass protests, herself personally, with thousands of people … At the same time she was doing that she was prohibiting churches, religious people, from gathering socially-distanced outside, wearing masks and the district court said ‘you can’t do that, that’s discrimination.'”

Watch below:

Matt Palumbo is the author of Fact-Checking the Fact-Checkers: How the Left Hijacked and Weaponized the Fact-Checking Industry and The Man Behind the Curtain: Inside the Secret Network of George Soros

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