Josh Hawley, R-MO, threw a Biden nominee for a DC district judge to the wolves during her tenure as DC solicitor general. Joe Biden has nominated Loren Alikhan as the District of Columbia’s next district judge. Ms. AliKhan is currently a member of the DC Court of Appeals. Hawley always asks the nominees whether they have litigated against religious liberty claims. Most say no. But Judge AliKhan was involved in several cases.

AliKhan had been involved in the Capitol Hill Baptist Church V. Bowser case, which was part of a COVID Lockdown. Hawley emphasized that the policy was only aimed at religious gatherings. At the time, Judge AliKhan was DC’s solicitor-general. He argued that the policy only targeted religious gatherings.

Hawley then asked, “What types of activities are there in the district?” Hawley asked AliKhan if this applied to the mass protests that were taking place in the district.

Hawley replied, “So it excluded unusual or unlikely activities from the statute which is in the ordinance.”

AliKhan was unable to respond other than by saying that the Mayor’s Office had tried as hard as it could at the beginning of the pandemic to contain the pathogen in relation daily activities.

What about the thousands of protesters that swarmed into the city, encouraged by liberal media figures and Democrats? But the person who wants their restaurant to stay open or pray in church is selfish and may spread the virus. Hawley exposed hypocrisy in the mantra’stay at home to save lives’ that the political class used to keep us in our homes because of a virus which has a survival rate of 99 percent or more.

AliKhan said that the mayor’s office had not considered the issue. Hawley then asked if AliKhan felt mass protests were a separate category of religious observances.

Hawley exposed the Democrats’ nonsensical stance on mass protests when he endorsed them during the 2020 elections, right in the middle of the pandemic. But he was adamantly against people who went to church wearing masks or being socially distant.

Hawley was not happy with AliKhan’s attempt to hide her defeat by using legalese. Hawley asked the judge to stop playing games. The Missouri Republican then went through the timeline that led to the repeal of the lockdown ordinance, including Mayor Bowser’s attendance at mass protests while denying churchgoers the right to gather for services. He’s obviously not voting for her nomination.