News » Appeals Court Nominee May Have Hidden Cult Ties

Appeals Court Nominee May Have Hidden Cult Ties

October 3, 2017

a ring of figures bowing prostrate to a figure in the middle.
Sen. Diane Feinstein got plenty of heat for questioning whether Amy Coney Barrett, a nominee for a 7th Circuit Court of Appeals seat, held religious beliefs that would influence her jurisprudence. Senator Orrin Hatch accused Feinstein of employing an unconstitutional “religious test” for office. But there are indications that the nominee deliberately obscured her ties to People of Praise, a cult she belongs to. Members of the group swear a lifelong oath of loyalty to each other. They are accountable to a personal adviser – called a “head” for men and a “handmaid” for women – who give directions on whom to marry, where to live, whether to take a job or buy a home and how to raise children. The group teaches that husbands are the “heads” of their wives and have authority over the family. Some legal scholars said that such loyalty oaths could raise legitimate questions about judicial independence and impartiality. “These groups can become so absorbing that it’s difficult for a person to retain individual judgment,” said Sarah Barringer Gordon, a professor of constitutional law and history at the University of Pennsylvania.

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