On 1/25/2023, A Biden judicial nominee was unable to answer basic questions about the U.S. Constitution posed by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., during a Senate hearing. Judge Charnelle Bjelkengren, of Spokane County Superior Court in Washington State, was nominated by President Biden to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. During her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Bjelkengren could not answer Senator Kennedy’s questions about what different parts of the U.S. Constitution do and how courts might interpret laws.
“Tell me what Article V of the Constitution does,” Kennedy instructed Bjelkengren at the beginning of his question time.
“Article V is not coming to mind at the moment,” judge Bjelkengren said.
“How about Article II?” Kennedy followed-up, but she was unable to recall the answer. The question was lost on Bjelkengren, “In my 12 years as an assistant attorney general, in my nine years as a judge, I was not faced with that precise question,” Bjelkengren said. “We are the highest trial court in Washington state, so I’m frequently faced with issues that I’m not familiar with, and I thoroughly review the law, I research, and apply the law to the facts presented to me.”
Kennedy did not seem impressed. “Well, you’re going to be faced with it if you’re confirmed, I can assure you of that,” he said.
Bjelkengren is a graduate of Mankato State University and received her law degree from Gonzaga University School of Law in 2000. She previously served as an assistant attorney general for the Washington Attorney General’s Office.
Article V of the Constitution concerns the amendments process, and Article II invests the executive power in the president of the United States, enumerating the powers of the executive branch.
Next (after hearing two other nominees gave answers), Kennedy asked if Bjelkengren knew what “purposivism” is, but she was again unable to give an answer, “Judge on the far end, can you tell me what the independent state legislature theory is? I’m just asking you not what your opinion of it, what is it–it’s before the Supreme Court now.”
Bjelkengren, “In my twelve years as an assistant attorney general, and…”
Kennedy, “Right (heavy sigh).”
Bjelkengren, “That doctrine was never presented to me.”
In 2013, Bjelkengren became an administrative judge for the Office of Administrative Hearings in Washington State. In 2019, Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee appointed Bjelkengren to the Spokane County Superior Court, and she became the first female African American judge in Eastern Washington.
Purposivism, or the purposive approach, is a philosophy of interpreting the law that emphasizes the law’s purpose — advocating for judges to enforce the spirit of the law when it contradicts with the text of the law, according to Harvard Law professor John F. Manning, writing in the Columbia Law Review. In contrast, textualists argue that judges must strictly adhere to the law’s enacted text, when it is clear.
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Biden nominee can’t answer basic Constitution questions: not coming to mind & Neither is Article II