Culture

A US Senator Grilled The Next Supreme Court Judge About A Reddit Meme

This is what happens when politicians ask their teenage kids for help at work.

by Osman Faruqi  22 March 2017

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Finally, a US politics story that isn’t about Donald Trump. Well, it’s not all about Donald Trump.

The US Senate is currently going through the process of confirming Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch. The Court has been short one judge since Antonin Scalia, a conservative, passed away last February.

Barack Obama had a go at filling the vacancy but his nominee was blocked by Republicans who were hoping they’d win the presidency and appoint someone with their political views… which is exactly what happened.

Gorsuch’s confirmation hearing today was largely a straightforward affair. He was asked by senators if he would have any problem over-ruling the President, to which he replied “Senator, no man is above the law.” Which is oddly dramatic.

But then Senator Jeff Lake, a Republican from Arizona, stepped up and things got weird.

Flake began by explaining that he’d crowdsourced his questions to his family, which is absolutely a terrible thing to do. Mate, you are interrogating a future member of the Supreme Court. The body that ruled on abortion law, same-sex marriage and the electoral system. The American people have put their trust in you and you’ve let them down.

Unsurprisingly the questions from Flake’s family members were extremely bad. The first one was suggested by Flake’s teenage son, who wanted to know if Gorsuch would rather “fight 100 duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck.”

Screen Shot 2017-03-22 at 10.36.06 am

u wot mate?

The question is popular on Reddit AMAs, but it left Gorsuch speechless. For the record, Bill Murray went with one horsed-sized duck when he asked the same question in 2015.

“I’d act like I were trying to ride it, and then I would strangle it from behind,” Murray said. Nice.

Next Flake asked, on behalf of his brother, if Gorsuch had “ever worn gym shorts and a tank top under your robe.”

???

That’s even worse than the duck/horse question.

You can watch the full exchange here:

Feature image via Reddit