Patrick Leahy says bacon joke by Don Willett, judicial nominee, is same-sex marriage ‘attack’

One of President Trump’s judicial nominees found himself in the odd position of defending a two-year-old “bacon” joke Wednesday when a Democratic senator called it an attack on same-sex couples.

Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett may wind up serving on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, but the record now includes “bacon” questioning related to his Twitter feed in April 2015.

Sen. Patrick Leahy claimed multiple times that the judge’s “support” for marrying bacon — a joke — was an underhanded jab at the Supreme Court’s historic Obergefell v. Hodges case.

“The Obergefell decision — you equated that constitutional right to same-sex marriage with a constitutional right to marry bacon … Why have you so attacked Supreme Court decisions?” the Democrat asked.

“I don’t believe I had attacked Supreme Court precedent, but certainly, if I were fortunate enough to be confirmed as a federal circuit judge, I would be honor-bound, categorically, absolutely, to follow every controlling precedent,” the judge replied, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

He then continued: “Senator, as for the bacon tweet, that was the day after the Obergefell decision was issued and it was my attempt to inject a bit of levity. The country was filled with rancor and polarization. It was a divisive time in the nation.”

“And you think that cut back the divisiveness with a comment like that?” an incredulous Mr. Leahy replied.

I could support recognizing a constitutional right to marry bacon. pic.twitter.com/HKPW6tE4H6

— Justice Don Willett (@JusticeWillett) April 30, 2015

Conservatives, most prominently then-Sen. Rick Santorum, did frequently make “slippery slope” arguments against gay marriage — that if a person desires a marriage that isn’t possible under current law, that doesn’t make that definition of marriage unjust. In more-serious iterations than “bacon,” they warned that if the male-female definition of marriage is thereby unjust, so too would be such limitations as age, number and lack of blood relationship — in other words, gay marriage would lead to child marriage, polygamy, and marrying parents or siblings.

Nevertheless, the conservative website Hotair mocked Mr. Leahy’s line of questioning as “pitifully stupid,” particularly since the judge’s Twitter feed prior to his nomination was filled with jokes.

“It’s a testament to how inoffensive his humor is that the best Democrats could do after scouring his social media for ’problematic’ tweets was a jest about his, and America’s, love affair with bacon, which is an Internet genre unto itself,” writer Allahpundit said. “I don’t think Willett’s meaning with the bacon tweet went any deeper than seizing on something topical at the time, the Supreme Court’s deliberations on gay marriage, and turning it into what might politely be called a ’dad joke.’”

The judge punctuated his exchange with Mr. Leahy by saying “every American is entitled to equal worth and dignity.”