Amy Coney Barrett is asked to show her notes, reveals she’s speaking entirely from memory

Senator John Cornyn said "Most of us have multiple notebooks and notes and books, things like that in front of us. Can you hold up what you've been referring to in answering our questions?"

Coney Barrett replied "The letterhead says US Senate," and held up a blank notepad. While she rattled off cases and decisions, she did so entirely from memory.

When she discussed the Supreme Court decision that confirmed the constitutionality of gay marriage, Obergefell v. Hodges, her responses were so in keeping with the upholding of that case law that the only criticism leftist media could find was that she used the term "sexual preference."

Senator Dick Durban asked Amy Coney Barrett what impact the video of George Floyd's death had on her, and she spoke about her family and discussing this with them.

Coney Barrett said "Senator, as you might imagine, given that I have two black children, that was very, very personal for my family. Jessie was with the boys on a camping trip out in South Dakota, so I was there, and my 17-year-old daughter Vivian, who was adopted from Haiti. All of this was erupting, it was very difficult for her."

"We wept together in my room and then it was also difficult for my daughter Julia who was 10, I had to try to explain some of this to them. My children, to this point in their lives, have had the benefit of growing up in a cocoon where they have not yet experienced hatred or violence," Coney Barrett said.

"For Vivian, to understand that there would be a risk to her brother, or the son that she might have one day, of that kind of brutality, has been an ongoing conversation. And it's a difficult one for us, like it is for Americans all over the country."

"I'd like to ask you as an originalist who has a passion for history," Durbin replied. "I can't imagine that you can separate the two, to reflect on the history of this country. Where are we today when it comes to the issue of race? Some argue 'it's fine, everything's fine, and you don't have to even to teach children about the history of slavery or discrimination.'

"Others say there's implicit bias in so many aspects of American life that we have to be very candid about and address. Others go further and say no, it's systemic racism that's built in to America and we have to be much more pointed in how we're addressing it. How do you feel?" Durbin asked.

Coney Barrett replied, saying "I think it is an entirely uncontroversial and obvious statement, given as we just talked about the George Floyd video, that racism persists in our country. As to putting my finger on the nature of the problem, whether as you say it's just outright or systemic racism, or how to tackle the issue of just making it better, things are policy questions, they're hotly contested policy questions, that have been in the news and discussed all summer.

"So while, as I did share my personal experiences, and I'm happy to discuss the reaction my family had to the George Floyd video, giving broader statements, or making broader diagnoses about the problem of racism, it's kind of beyond what I'm capable of doing as a judge."