A prime example is Amy Coney Barrett, who has been nominated to serve on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. When Democratic senators on the Judiciary Committee questioned Barrett over an article she had written about how judges should handle conflicts between their religious beliefs and the law, Republicans and right-wing media went ballistic with unfair charges of religious bigotry. They even brought back a smear they had used almost 15 years ago against critics of judicial nominee William Pryor, suggesting that Democrats were declaring that “Catholics need not apply.” (The absurdity of this charge is amplified by the fact that among the senators targeted are Catholics like Sen. Richard Durbin.)