Bill Maher calls Trump's Supreme Court pick Amy Coney Barrett a 'f***ing nut' and 'speaking in tongues' Catholic and slams the Democrats for bringing 'arrows to a gun fight' over the nomination battle

Bill Maher has called Donald Trump's Supreme Court pick Amy Coney Barrett a 'f***ing nut' and 'speaking in tongues' Catholic and has slammed the Democrats for bringing 'arrows to a gun fight' over the nomination battle for Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat. 

The comedian and political commentator took aim at Barrett during the opening monologue of his HBO show 'Real Time With Bill Maher' Friday night, where he claimed she 'doesn't believe in condoms' which he said 'we learned from Stormy Daniels' that Trump agrees with her on.  

Maher also hit out at the president who this week refused to commit to leaving the White House peacefully if he loses the election, blasting that 'nothing says democracy like a president who's a squatter.'

The TV host had some stern words for the Democrats too, in particular House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, mocking the party for 'screaming' about the hypocrisy of Republicans over the Supreme Court seat.

Trump will announce his Supreme Court nominee at the White House Saturday afternoon, despite repeated objections from the Democrats that the seat should not be filled until after the election.

Bill Maher has called Donald Trump's Supreme Court pick Amy Coney Barrett a 'f***ing nut' and 'speaking in tongues' Catholic and has slammed the Democrats for bringing 'arrows to a gun fight' over the nomination battle for Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat

Maher ridiculed Trump's favorite and the conservative woman expected to be nominated as liberal Justice Ginsburg's replacement. 

'We'll be saying this name a lot I'm sure because she's a f**ing nut,' Maher said of Barrett. 

'Religion - I was right about that one too. I'm sorry, but Amy Barrett, Catholic - really Catholic. I mean really, really Catholic - like speaking in tongues.' 

Barrett, 48, and her husband Jesse are members of a conservative religious group that insists women obey their husbands in all matters including how they vote.

The group People of Praise was the inspiration behind the hit novel and TV show The Handmaid's Tale which imagines a dystopian world where women are oppressed and they are treated as property of the state.

Maher referenced her membership of the sect while also taking a swipe at Trump over his alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels.

'Like she doesn't believe in condoms, which is what she has in common with Trump because he doesn't either,' the host said.

'I remember that from Stormy Daniels.' 

The comedian and political commentator took aim at Barrett during the opening monologue of his HBO show 'Real Time With Bill Maher' Friday night

Daniels claims she had an affair with Trump while he was married to First Lady Melania Trump.

She shared graphic details of their encounters including that the president didn't wear a condom and said she was paid $130,000 'hush money' shortly before the 2016 election to keep her story quiet.

The president has denied all the allegations.  

Maher went on to blast Trump after he refused to confirm there would be a peaceful transition of power if Joe Biden wins the election in November.  

'This week, the president f**ing flat-out said it - what I've been saying he's going to say forever - he's not leaving,' said Maher. 

'The law-and-order president refused to commit to the peaceful transference of power should he lose. I mean, even banana republics are like, this is bananas. 

'If you're the president, the only acceptable answer to 'Will you submit to the peaceful transference of power?' is Yes. 

'Not we're looking at it strongly. Not we'll see what happens. Are these f**ing people insane? This guy will do anything to steal an election.'

Maher added that Trump's comments go against the pillars of democracy America is founded on: 'Nothing says 'democracy' like a president who's a squatter.'

Barrett has emerged as the frontrunner for Trump's Supreme Court nomination. She and her husband Jesse are members of a conservative religious group that insists women obey their husbands in all matters including how they vote

The People of Praise religious group inspired the hit TV show The Handmaid's Tale, which depicts a dystopian world where women are oppressed

Barrett and her husband Jesse are members of People of Praise, a small group that teaches that wives have to obey their husbands in everything

Trump had been asked in his White House press conference Wednesday if he would commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the race for the White House.

'Well, we'll have to see what happens,' he replied.  

Trump later dialed back his stance slightly Friday telling a crowd at a Virginia rally he does want 'a very friendly transition' but doesn't 'want to be cheated and be stupid and say "Oh let's transition."'

Maher also mocked the Democrats' fight against Trump pushing forward with the Supreme Court nomination after Pelosi this week said 'we have arrows in our quiver that I'm not about to discuss' to block the seat being filled. 

'Great, now Democrats are bringing arrows to a gun fight,' Maher said. 

'But I don't think we have any arrows in our quiver! I think our quiver is bare!

'They have the power and they're going to use it to make the court with six conservatives and when 2020 election winds up in the lap of that court as they're practically already promising that they will, guess who wins?'

Maher hit out at Trump who refused to commit to leaving peacefully if he loses the election: 'Nothing says democracy like a president who's a squatter'. He also mocked the Democrats and Nancy Pelosi for 'screaming' about Republicans' hypocrisy in their fight against filling the court seat before the election 

Ginsburg, only the second woman to serve as a Supreme Court Justice, died last week sparking a fierce debate over the nomination of her successor 

Maher added: 'We can't stop them from getting the court seat, which means we can't stop them from picking the election winner.' 

He made a jibe at Democrats for 'screaming' about the aboutface of Republicans over filling a SCOTUS vacancy during an election year, saying 'the only rule Republicans play by... is the people who win make the rules. Power talks, losers walk.' 

The appointment of a new Supreme Court judge has been a contentious issue since Ginsburg, only the second woman to serve as a Supreme Court Justice, died last Friday aged 87. 

She said her 'most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed' in the days leading up to her death.

However Trump has vowed to plow ahead with appointing her replacement for the Supreme Court seat in a move that has sparked fierce debate, with many Democrats - as well as some Republicans - insisting the seat must not be filled until after the election.   

The crux of the debate centers around the move made by Republicans back in 2016 - and led by Mitch McConnell - to block then-President Barack Obama from appointing a new justice to the court nine months before the election.  

Their argument at the time was that the position should not be filled until a new president was elected by the American people - a standard set by the Republicans that the Democrats now argue the party must continue to honor.   

However, with less than six weeks until the 2020 election, Trump said he will name his nominee for the role Saturday afternoon at the White House and has urged the GOP-run Senate to consider 'without delay' his nomination.  

Who is Amy Coney Barrett? 

On Saturday afternoon, Trump named Amy Coney Barrett, 48, of the Chicago-based 7th Circuit and Barbara Lagoa, 52, of the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit as possible nominees.

Emerging as the favorite is Barrett, 48, a mother of seven children, including two adopted from Haiti and one with special needs.

 Her involvement in a cult-like Catholic group where members are assigned a 'handmaiden' has caused concern in Barret's nomination to other courts and is set to come under fierce review again if she is Trump's pick.

The group was the one which helped inspire 'The Handmaids Tale', book's author Margaret Atwood has said. 

Barrett emerges now as a front runner after she was already shortlisted for the nomination in 2018 which eventually went to Brett Kavanaugh.

Trump called the federal appellate court judge 'very highly respected' when questioned about her Saturday. 

Born in New Orleans in 1972, she was the first and only woman to occupy an Indiana seat on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. 

Married to Jesse M. Barrett, a partner at SouthBank Legal in South Bend and former Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana, the couple have five biological and two adopted children. 

Their youngest biological child has Down Syndrome.

Friends say she is a devoted mother - and say with just an hour to go until she was voted into the 7th District Court of Appeals by the U.S. Senate in 2017, Barrett was outside trick-or-treating with her kids. 

Barrett's strong Christian ideology makes her a favorite of the right but her involvement in a religious group sometimes branded as a 'cult' is set to be harshly criticized.    

In 2017, her affiliation to the small, tightly knit Christian group called People of Praise caused concern while she was a nominee for a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. 

The New York Times reported that the practices of the group would surprise even other Catholics with members of the group swearing a lifelong oath of loyalty, called a covenant, to one another. 

They are also assigned and held accountable to a personal adviser, known until recently as a 'head' for men and a 'handmaid' for women and believe in prophecy, speaking in tongues and divine healings. 

Members are also encouraged to confess personal sins, financial information and other sensitive disclosures to these advisors. 

Advisors are allowed to report these admissions to group leadership if necessary, according to an account of one former member. 

The organization itself says that the term 'handmaid' was a reference to Jesus's mother Mary's description of herself as a 'handmaid of the Lord.'

They said they recently stopped using the term due to cultural shifts and now use the name 'women leaders.' 

The group deems that husbands are the heads of their wives and should take authority over the family while 'the heads and handmaids give direction on important decisions, including whom to date or marry, where to live, whether to take a job or buy a home, and how to raise children,' the Times reported. 

Unmarried members are placed living with married couples members often look to buy or rent homes near other members. 

Founded in 1971, People of Praise was part of the era's 'great emergence of lay ministries and lay movements in the Catholic Church,' founder Bishop Peter Smith told the Catholic News Agency. 

Beginning with just 29 members, it now has an estimated 2,000. 

According to CNA, some former members of the People of Praise allege that leaders exerted undue influence over family decision-making, or pressured the children of members to commit to the group. 

At least 10 members of Barrett's family, not including their children, also belong to the group. 

Barrett's father, Mike Coney, serves on the People of Praise's powerful 11-member board of governors, described as the group's 'highest authority.' 

Her mother Linda served as a handmaiden.  

The group's ultra-conservative religious tenets helped spur author Margaret Atwood to publish The Handmaid's Tale, a story about a religious takeover of the U.S. government, according to a 1986 interview with the writer.

The book has since been made into a hit TV series. 

According to legal experts, loyalty oaths such at the one Barrett would have taken to People of Praise could raise legitimate questions about a judicial nominee's independence and impartiality. 

'These groups can become so absorbing that it's difficult for a person to retain individual judgment,' said Sarah Barringer Gordon, a professor of constitutional law and history at the University of Pennsylvania. 

'I don't think it's discriminatory or hostile to religion to want to learn more' about her relationship with the group.

'We don't try to control people,' said Craig S. Lent. 'And there's never any guarantee that the leader is always right. You have to discern and act in the Lord. 

'If and when members hold political offices, or judicial offices, or administrative offices, we would certainly not tell them how to discharge their responsibilities.'

During her professional career, Barrett spent two decades as a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, from which she holds her bachelor's and law degrees.

She was named 'Distinguished Professor of the Year' three separate years, a title decided by students. 

A former clerk for late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, she was nominated by Trump to serve on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2017 and confirmed in a 55-43 vote by the Senate later that year.

At the time, three Democratic senators supported her nomination: Joe Donnelly (Ind.), who subsequently lost his 2018 reelection bid, Tim Kaine (Va.) and Joe Manchin (W.Va.), according to the Hill.

She was backed by every GOP senator at the time, but she did not disclose her relationship with People of Praise which led to later criticism of her appointment. 

Barret is well-regarded by the religious right because of this devout faith.

Yet these beliefs are certain to cause problems with her conformation and stand in opposition to the beliefs of Ginsburg, who she would be replacing.

Axios reported in 2019 that Trump told aides he was 'saving' Barrett to replace Ginsburg.

Her deep Catholic faith was cited by Democrats as a large disadvantage during her 2017 confirmation hearing for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit.

'If you're asking whether I take my faith seriously and I'm a faithful Catholic, I am,' Barrett responded during that hearing, 'although I would stress that my personal church affiliation or my religious belief would not bear in the discharge of my duties as a judge.'

Republicans now believe that she performed well in her defense during this hearing, leaving her potentially capable of doing the same if facing the Senate Judiciary Committee.

She is a former member of the Notre Dame's 'Faculty for Life' and in 2015 signed a letter to the Catholic Church affirming the 'teachings of the Church as truth.'

Among those teachings were the 'value of human life from conception to natural death' and marriage-family values 'founded on the indissoluble commitment of a man and a woman'.

She has previously written that Supreme Court precedents are not sacrosanct. Liberals have taken these comments as a threat to the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide.

Barrett wrote that she agrees 'with those who say that a justice's duty is to the Constitution and that it is thus more legitimate for her to enforce her best understanding of the Constitution rather than a precedent she thinks clearly in conflict with it'.

Among the other statements that have cause concern for liberal are her declaration that ObamaCare's birth control mandate is 'grave violation of religious freedom.'

LGBTQ organizations also voiced their concern about her when she was first named on the shortlist.  

She has also sided with Trump on immigration. 

In a case from June 2020, IndyStar reports that she was the sole voice on a three-judge panel that supported allowing federal enforcement of Trump's public charge immigration law in Illinois, 

The law would have prevented immigrants from getting legal residency in the United States if they rely on public benefits like food stamps or housing vouchers.