What They Are Saying about Amy Coney Barrett and the Future of the Supreme Court

September 27, 2020 by Dan McCue
What They Are Saying about Amy Coney Barrett and the Future of the Supreme Court
Judge Amy Coney Barrett speaks after President Donald Trump announced Barrett as his nominee to the Supreme Court, in the Rose Garden at the White House, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump nominated U.S. Circuit Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court Saturday afternoon, capping a dramatic first-term reshaping of the federal judiciary that he hopes will provide a needed boost to his re-election effort.

Barrett, 48, a former clerk to the late Justice Antonin Scalia, was joined during the brief Rose Garden announcement by her husband and seven children.

In remarks to the assembled press and invited guests, Trump hailed Barrett as a “woman of remarkable intellect and character.”

Barrett herself said she was “truly humbled” by the nomination and quickly referenced her time clerking for Scalia, the court’s premiere “originalist,” stating his “judicial philosophy is mine, too.”

The theory of originalism treats the Constitution like a statute, and gives it the meaning that its words were understood to bear at the time they were promulgated.

In a 2010 lecture, Scalia himself said originalism suggests the Constitution has a static meaning.

“Of course its provisions have to be applied to new phenomena” like the radio and the Internet, he said.

“It is essential to originalism, as it is not to so-called ‘evolutionary constitutional jurisprudence,’ to know the original meaning of constitutional provisions.”

Later in the same lecture, Scalia said, “My burden is not to show that originalism is perfect, but that it beats the other alternatives, and that, believe me, is not difficult.”

If Barrett was quick to align herself with Scalia on Saturday, she was also mindful to acknowledge the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whose vacant seat she will be filing if she is confirmed by the Senate.

Barrett praised Ginsburg as a trailblazer for women and for her friendship with Scalia, saying, “She has won the admiration of women across the country and indeed all across the world.”

But there was no getting around the fact Barrett and Ginsburg are markedly different women with sharply divergent judicial philosophies.

Should Barrett be confirmed, which now seems all but inevitable, it would be the sharpest ideological swing since Clarence Thomas replaced Justice Thurgood Marshall nearly three decades ago.

She would be the only justice on the current court not to have received her law degree from an Ivy League school. The eight current justices all attended either Harvard or Yale. She would also be the sixth justice on the nine-member court to be appointed by a Republican president, and the third of Trump’s first term in office.

Barrett has been a judge since 2017, when Trump nominated her to the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Prior to that, she was a longtime University of Notre Dame law professor.

Republican senators are lining up for a swift confirmation of Barrett ahead of the Nov. 3 election.

Barrett is expected to make her first appearance Tuesday on Capitol Hill, where she will meet with McConnell; Sen. Lindsey Graham, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and others.

Hearings on her nomination are scheduled to begin Oct. 12, and Graham said Saturday he hoped to have Barrett’s nomination out of the committee by Oct. 26.

Even before Ginsburg’s death, Trump and his Republican allies in the Senate were campaigning for re-election, in part, on their ability to confirm 217 conservative judges to the federal bench.

Trump is said to be hoping the third Supreme Court nomination of his first-term will galvanize the conservative and evangelical core of his base, and he continues to lag behind Democrat Joe Biden in most national polls.

But the Republican gambit is not without risk for the party and its candidates.

In 2016, Republicans blocked Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court to fill the election-year vacancy, saying voters should have a say in the lifetime appointment.

Senate Republicans say they will move ahead this time, arguing the circumstances are different now that the White House and Senate are controlled by the same party.

A New York Times/Siena College poll released Sunday found a clear majority of voters believes the winner of the presidential election should fill the Supreme Court seat left open by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

In a survey of likely voters, 56% said they preferred to have the election act as a sort of referendum on the vacancy. Only 41% said they wanted Trump to choose a justice before November.

Seemingly even worse for the Republicans, the voters the party needs to close the gap in a series of tight raises seem the most opposed to speedy action by the Senate.

These include, 62% of women, 63% of independents and 60% of college-educated white voters.

On the hot-button issue of abortion, 60% of the voters surveyed said they believe abortion should be legal at least some of the time.

More tellingly, 56% of respondents said they would be less likely to vote for Trump if his pick to replace Ginsburg would help overturn Roe v Wade. Only 24% said they would be more inclined to vote for him if that were the case.

What follows are the President’s remarks at Saturday’s nomination announcement, Barrett’s remarks, and reactions to the swiftly unfolding events.

President Donald Trump

 Today, it is my honor to nominate one of our nation’s most brilliant and gifted legal minds to the Supreme Court.  She is a woman of unparalleled achievement, towering intellect, sterling credentials, and unyielding loyalty to the Constitution: Judge Amy Coney Barrett. 

 We’re also joined by Amy’s husband, Jesse — thank you, Jesse, very much — and their seven beautiful children.  Congratulations to you all.  A very special day.

With us as well are the First Lady — thank you, First Lady — (applause) — along with Vice President Mike Pence and his amazing wife, Karen.  Thank you very much, Mike. 

Judge Barrett is a graduate of Rhodes College and the University of Notre Dame Law School.  At Notre Dame, she earned a full academic scholarship, served as the Executive Editor of the Law Review, graduated first in her class, and received the law school’s award for the best record of scholarship and achievement.

Upon graduation, she became a clerk for Judge Laurence Silberman on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.  Amy then received one of the highest honors a young lawyer could have, serving as a clerk on the Supreme Court for Justice Antonin Scalia.  A highly — (applause) — a very highly respected law professor at Notre Dame wrote to Justice Scalia with a one-sentence recommendation: “Amy Coney is the best student I ever had.”  That’s pretty good.  (Laughter.)  Justice Scalia hired her shortly thereafter. 

And we are honored to have his wonderful wife, Maureen — where is Maureen?  Maureen Scalia — with us today.  Thank you.  And our great Secretary of Labor, thank you very much.  Thank you, Mr. Secretary.  Very good genes in that family, I will say.  Very good genes.

Before joining the bench, Judge Barrett spent 15 years as a Professor at the University of Notre Dame Law School.  She was renowned for her scholarship, celebrated by her colleagues, and beloved by her students.  Three times, she was selected at Notre Dame, Distinguished Professor of the Year.

When I nominated Judge Barrett to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 2017, every law clerk from her time at the Supreme Court endorsed her and endorsed her nomination, writing, quote, “We are Democrats, Republicans, and independents…yet we write to support the nomination of Professor Barrett to be a Circuit Judge…Professor Barrett is a woman of remarkable intellect and character.  She is eminently qualified for the job.”

And I can tell you, I did that too.  I looked and I studied, and you are very eminently qualified for this job.  You are going to be fantastic.  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Really fantastic.

The entire Notre Dame Law facility and faculty, everybody — everybody at that school also — we got so many letters — also wrote letters of support of Amy’s nomination to the Seventh Circuit.  They wrote, in effect: “Despite our differences, we unanimously agree that our constitutional system depends upon an independent judiciary staffed by talented people devoted to the fair and impartial administration of the rule of law.  And we unanimously agree that Amy is such a person.”

For the last three years, Judge Barrett has served with immense distinction on the federal bench.  Amy is more than a stellar scholar and judge; she is also a profoundly devoted mother.  Her family is a core part of who Amy is.  She opened her home and her heart, and adopted two beautiful children from Haiti.  Her incredible bond with her youngest child, a son with Down Syndrome, is a true inspiration.

If confirmed, Justice Barrett will make history as the first mother of school-aged children ever to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.  That’s good.

To her children Emma, Vivian, Tess, John Peter, Liam, Juliet, and Benjamin, thank you for sharing your incredible mom with our country.  Thank you very much.  (Applause.) 

 Amy Coney Barrett will decide cases based on the text of the Constitution as written.  As Amy has said, “Being a judge takes courage.  You are not there to decide cases as you may prefer.  You are there to do your duty and to follow the law wherever it may take you.”  That is exactly what Judge Barrett will do on the U.S. Supreme Court.

I want to thank the members of the Senate.  We have so many of them here today.  Thank you very much.  I see you in the audience, and you’re so proud.  But I want to thank you for your commitment and to providing a fair and timely hearing.  I know it will be that. 

Judge Barrett was confirmed to the Circuit Court three years ago by a bipartisan vote.  Her qualifications are unsurpassed — unsurpassed — and her record is beyond reproach.  This should be a straightforward and prompt confirmation.  It should be very easy.  Good luck.    It’s going to be very quick.  I’m sure it’ll be extremely non-controversial.  We said that the last time, didn’t we?  Well, thank you all very much, and thank you for being here.  That’s really great.  Thank you. 

I further urge all members of the other side of the aisle to provide Judge Barrett with the respectful and dignified hearing that she deserves and, frankly, that our country deserves.  I urge lawmakers and members of the media to refrain from personal or partisan attacks. 

And the stakes for our country are incredibly high.  Rulings that the Supreme Court will issue in the coming years will decide the survival of our Second Amendment, our religious liberty, our public safety, and so much more. 

To maintain security, liberty, and prosperity, we must preserve our priceless heritage of a nation of laws, and there is no one better to do that than Amy Coney Barrett.

Law and order is the foundation of the American system of justice.  No matter the issue, no matter the case before her, I am supremely confident that Judge Barrett will issue rulings based solely upon a fair reading of the law.  She will defend the sacred principle of equal justice for citizens of every race, color, religion, and creed.

Judge Amy Coney Barrett

Thank you very much, Mr. President.  I am deeply honored by the confidence that you have placed in me.  And I am so grateful to you and the First Lady, to the Vice President and the Second Lady, and to so many others here for your kindness on this rather overwhelming occasion.

I fully understand that this is a momentous decision for a President.  And if the Senate does me the honor of confirming me, I pledge to discharge the responsibilities of this job to the very best of my ability.  I love the United States, and I love the United States Constitution.  I am truly humbled by the prospect of serving on the Supreme Court.

Should I be confirmed, I will be mindful of who came before me. The flag of the United States is still flying at half-staff in memory of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to mark the end of a great American life.  Justice Ginsburg began her career at a time when women were not welcome in the legal profession.  But she not only broke glass ceilings, she smashed them.  For that, she has won the admiration of women across the country and, indeed, all over the world.

She was a woman of enormous talent and consequence, and her life of public service serves as an example to us all.  Particularly poignant to me was her long and deep friendship with Justice Antonin Scalia, my own mentor. 

Justices Scalia and Ginsburg disagreed fiercely in print without rancor in person.  Their ability to maintain a warm and rich friendship, despite their differences, even inspired an opera.  These two great Americans demonstrated that arguments, even about matters of great consequence, need not destroy affection.  In both my personal and professional relationships, I strive to meet that standard.

I was lucky enough to clerk for Justice Scalia, and given his incalculable influence on my life, I am very moved to have members of the Scalia family here today, including his dear wife, Maureen. 

I clerked for Justice Scalia more than 20 years ago, but the lessons I learned still resonate.  His judicial philosophy is mine too: A judge must apply the law as written.  Judges are not policymakers, and they must be resolute in setting aside any policy views they might hold.  The President has asked me to become the ninth justice, and as it happens, I’m used to being in a group of nine: my family. 

Our family includes me, my husband Jesse, Emma, Vivian, Tess, John Peter, Liam, Juliet, and Benjamin.  Vivian and John Peter, as the President said, were born in Haiti and they came to us, five years apart, when they were very young.  And the most revealing fact about Benjamin, our youngest, is that his brothers and sisters unreservedly identify him as their favorite sibling. 

Our children obviously make our life very full.  While I am a judge, I’m better known back home as a room parent, carpool driver, and birthday party planner.  When schools went remote last spring, I tried on another hat.  Jesse and I became co-principals of the Barrett e-learning academy.  And, yes, the list of enrolled students was a very long one. 

Our children are my greatest joy, even though they deprive me of any reasonable amount of sleep.  I couldn’t manage this very full life without the unwavering support of my husband, Jesse.  At the start of our marriage, I imagined that we would run our household as partners.  As it has turned out, Jesse does far more than his share of the work.  To my chagrin, I learned at dinner recently that my children consider him to be the better cook.

For 21 years, Jesse has asked me, every single morning, what he can do for me that day.  And though I almost always say “nothing,” he still finds ways to take things off my plate.  And that’s not because he has a lot of free time — he has a busy law practice — it’s because he is a superb and generous husband, and I am very fortunate. 

Jesse and I have a life full of relationships, not only with our children, but with siblings, friends, and fearless babysitters, one of whom is with us today.  I am particularly grateful to my parents, Mike and Linda Coney.  I spent the bulk of — I have spent the bulk of my adulthood as a Midwesterner, but I grew up in their New Orleans home.  And as my brother and sisters can also attest, Mom and Dad’s generosity extends not only to us, but to more people than any of us could count.  They are an inspiration.

It is important at a moment like this to acknowledge family and friends.  But this evening, I also want to acknowledge you, my fellow Americans.  The President has nominated me to serve on the United States Supreme Court, and that institution belongs to all of us. 

If confirmed, I would not assume that role for the sake of those in my own circle, and certainly not for my own sake.  I would assume this role to serve you.  I would discharge the judicial oath, which requires me to administer justice without respect to persons, do equal right to the poor and rich, and faithfully and impartially discharge my duties under the United States Constitution.

I have no illusions that the road ahead of me will be easy, either for the short term or the long haul.  I never imagined that I would find myself in this position.  But now that I am, I assure you that I will meet the challenge with both humility and courage.

Members of the United States Senate, I look forward to working with you during the confirmation process, and I will do my very best to demonstrate that I am worthy of your support.  Thank you.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

President Trump could not have made a better decision. Judge Amy Coney Barrett is an exceptionally impressive jurist and an exceedingly well-qualified nominee to the Supreme Court of the United States.

First, Judge Barrett built a reputation as a brilliant scholar at the forefront of the legal academy. Then she answered the call to public service. For three years on the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, she has demonstrated exactly the independence, impartiality, and fidelity to our laws and Constitution that Americans need and deserve on their highest Court.

The Senate will evaluate this nomination on the basis of Judge Barrett’s objective qualifications. But it cannot escape notice that this nominee has also already won national admiration for her shining example of strong female leadership at the very top of her field. As our nation continues to mourn Justice Ginsburg and honor her trail-blazing legacy, it does seem fitting that another brilliant and talented woman at the height of their shared profession would follow in her footsteps onto the Court.

I look forward to meeting with the nominee next week and will carefully study her record and credentials. As I have stated, this nomination will receive a vote on the Senate floor in the weeks ahead, following the work of the Judiciary Committee supervised by Chairman Graham.

The Court, the Senate, and the American people — not to mention the nominee and her family — deserve a fair process that is focused on Judge Barrett’s qualifications. I hope all 100 Senators will treat this serious process with the dignity and respect it should command.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee

Judge Barrett is highly qualified in all the areas that matter – character, integrity, intellect, and judicial disposition. She is an outstanding Supreme Court nominee by President Trump.

As the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I’m very committed to ensuring that the nominee gets a challenging, fair, and respectful hearing. We move forward on this nomination knowing that the President has picked a highly qualified individual who will serve our nation well on the highest court in the land.”

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee

Judge Amy Coney Barrett clearly passes the president’s conservative litmus tests or he wouldn’t have nominated her. Judge Barrett’s record shows she would push the Supreme Court further to the right, putting many rights and protections that the American people have fought for and deeply cherish at risk.

With Judge Barrett’s confirmation, the Supreme Court unfortunately could repeal the Affordable Care Act and deny millions of Americans health insurance in the midst of a global pandemic. She has stated her opposition to the law and said Chief Justice Robert’s decision in NFIB v. Sebelius ‘pushed the Affordable Care Act beyond its plausible meaning to save the statute.’

The court could also overturn Roe v. Wade, stripping women of the right to control their reproductive systems. She has argued that justices have the right to ignore that precedent if they believe the Constitution doesn’t protect a woman’s right to choose.

President Trump has guaranteed that Judge Barrett will deliver on these and so many other conservative priorities. In doing so, Judge Barrett would stand as the polar opposite to the vision of America that Justice Ginsburg fought for decades to achieve.

There are now only 38 days until the election, and early voting has already begun in many states. No Supreme Court vacancy has been filled this close to a presidential election.

The Senate should not consider any Supreme Court nominee until the American people have spoken in November and the next president has been inaugurated.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

For four years, President Trump has tried to crush the Affordable Care Act in the Congress and the Courts.  This nomination threatens the destruction of life-saving protections for 135 million Americans with pre-existing conditions together with every other benefit and protection of the Affordable Care Act.

 The rules preventing insurance companies from treating being a woman as a pre-existing condition will be gone.  Young people’s ability to stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26 will be gone.  The Medicaid expansion bringing health care to millions and Medicare drug savings for seniors from closing the ‘donut hole’ will be gone.  The ban stopping insurers from going back to placing annual and lifetime limits on your health care will be gone.  And the out-of-pocket cost maximums that prevent families from going bankrupt from endless medical bills will be gone too.

 If this nominee is confirmed, millions of families’ health care will be ripped away in the middle of a pandemic that has infected seven million Americans and killed over 200,000 people in our country.

Everything hangs in the balance with this nomination: a woman’s constitutional right to make her own medical decisions about her own body, the right of LGBTQ Americans to marry who they love, the right of workers to organize and collectively bargain for fair wages, the future of our planet and environmental protections, voting rights and the right of every American to have a voice in our democracy.

Trump is exploiting this vacancy against the clear and overwhelming will of the American people, as he dismantles the pillars of health and economic security in America.

Every vote to confirm this nominee is a vote to dismantle health care.  The American people will hold every Senator responsible for their vote at the ballot box.

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md.

Sadly, but not surprisingly, President Trump has taken another unprincipled and polarizing action – one that is at odds with the principles stated by Senator Mitch McConnell, Senator Lindsey Graham, and the Republican members of the U.S. Senate, who were so sanctimonious in 2016 in asserting that it would be wrong to confirm a nominee to the Supreme Court in the last year of a President’s term. Their craven commitment to situational ethics remains ever apparent.

 In 2016, Republicans argued that the people ought to have their voices heard. The people spoke, and more of them voted for Hillary Clinton than for Donald Trump. The Republican Senate didn’t care. Today, the polls clearly show that Donald Trump does not have the support of the majority of the people and will likely lose in November. Instead of waiting for the people to speak, Republicans don’t care; their former rationalizations be damned. Far-right, partisan power grabs are their only principle. They have spent nearly four years stacking the courts with ideological judges and justices. They have ignored the will of the people and pandered to their narrow, willful base.

 Republicans continue to be focused on their obsession with taking health care security from the American people, including protections for pre-existing conditions, bringing down out-of-pocket costs, ensuring no annual or lifetime limits, allowing young people to stay on their parents’ policies, ensuring seniors are not priced out of getting health coverage, ensuring women are not charged extra because they are women, and many other protections included in the Affordable Care Act. The President and Republicans don’t care that all of these are supported by a majority of the American people; they hope to achieve defeat of the Affordable Care Act through stacking the Supreme Court while ignoring the will of the people. Nor do they care that the significant majority of the American people do not want a woman’s right to make her own choices when it comes to her reproductive health taken away.

 Republicans seek to impose their will through the dictates of the Court, as they have failed to do so through the Congress, even though they have controlled all levers of government policy for many of the past twenty years. One could call it a judicial coup.

 The American people deserve to have full faith in the integrity of the highest court of the land, and that cannot happen if Republicans jam this nomination through.

Vice President Joe Biden

Election Day is just weeks away, and millions of Americans are already voting because the stakes in this election could not be higher. They feel the urgency of this choice – an urgency made all the more acute by what’s at stake at the U.S. Supreme Court.

They are voting because their health care hangs in the balance. They are voting because they worry about losing their right to vote or being expelled from the only country they have ever known. They are voting right now because they fear losing their collective bargaining rights. They are voting to demand that equal justice be guaranteed for all. They are voting because they don’t want Roe v. Wade, which has been the law of the land for nearly half a century, to be overturned.

President Trump has been trying to throw out the Affordable Care Act for four years. Republicans have been trying to end it for a decade. Twice, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law as constitutional.

But even now, in the midst of a global health pandemic, the Trump Administration is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the entire law, including its protections for people with pre-existing conditions. If President Trump has his way, complications from COVID-19, like lung scarring and heart damage, could become the next deniable pre-existing condition.

Today, President Trump has nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett as the successor to Justice Ginsburg’s seat. She has a written track record of disagreeing with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision upholding the Affordable Care Act. She critiqued Chief Justice John Roberts’ majority opinion upholding the law in 2012.

The American people know the U.S. Supreme Court decisions affect their everyday lives. The United States Constitution was designed to give the voters one chance to have their voice heard on who serves on the Court. That moment is now and their voice should be heard. The Senate should not act on this vacancy until after the American people select their next president and the next Congress.

Patricia Lee Refo, President of the American Bar Association

Following today’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court, the American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary will immediately start its independent, nonpartisan peer evaluation of the nominee. The ABA Standing Committee will proceed as expeditiously as possible to complete this process and will do so in a thorough and fair manner.

 For the past 67 years, the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary has conducted comprehensive peer reviews of the professional qualifications of federal judicial nominees, including all 34 U.S Supreme Court nominees.

The Standing Committee, which operates wholly independently of the American Bar Association, evaluates nominees using information provided by knowledgeable judges, lawyers and other colleagues about the nominee’s professional competence, integrity and judicial temperament.

The committee does not consider the nominee’s philosophy, political affiliation or ideology. Based on this information, the Standing Committee publicly releases a rating of each federal judicial nominee as either Well Qualified, Qualified or Not Qualified.

While it is important to fill any vacancy to the Supreme Court in a timely manner, the Senate process of advice and consent must allow adequate time for thorough consideration of the nomination of Barrett and must not be rushed due to partisan considerations.

That is essential to the process of assessing lifetime appointments to the highest court in the United States. For the nation to continue to have trust in the integrity and independence of the federal judiciary, the process that places judges on the bench must be viewed as fair, unhurried and unbiased.

Tom Perez, chairman, Democratic National Committee

This choice confirms what we already knew: Everything we care about is at stake in this election. Health care is on the ballot. Reproductive rights are on the ballot. LGBTQ rights, voting rights, and workers’ rights are on the ballot. The future of our planet is on the ballot.

Today’s announcement is an affront not simply to our values as a democracy, but to every organizer and activist who has fought, marched, and voted to make this country live up to its founding ideals.

What’s more, it flies in the face of voters’ wishes: A majority of the American people believe they should have a voice in filling this seat by casting their ballot in November. And yet, Trump and Senate Republicans have ignored the voice of the people and are hell-bent on ramming through a nominee – all so they can strip health care protections from people with preexisting conditions when the issue comes before the court a week after Election Day. But the fight to save our democracy is not over. We must send a loud, clear, and unified message to Trump and every one of his Republican enablers at the ballot box in November by voting them out of office.

Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives

President Trump’s nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett is a brilliant choice as she is one of the most respected Constitutional jurists in the country.

Her collegiate and professional pedigree make her perfectly suited for the Supreme Court, having graduated magna cum laude from Rhodes College, first in her class at Notre Dame Law School, and having clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia. Judge Barrett is an outstanding mother, person, and judge and I’m certain she will excel as a Supreme Court Justice.

Curt Levey, president, Committee for Justice

The Committee for Justice applauds President Trump for selecting Judge Barrett, a nominee who is committed to conservative judicial principles and whose intellect and character is widely admired across the legal community.

Conservatives are excited by Judge Barrett’s nomination not because she will vote the “right” way on particular issues, but because she is committed to principles such as textualism and originalism, which require that our Constitution and other laws be interpreted as written, rather than twisted to serve the policy preferences of judges and other elites. Barrett’s confirmation will go a long way to reassure Americans discouraged by a string of liberal, activist decisions at the end of the Supreme Court’s last term.

During the confirmation process, Democrats and their allies will warn us that Judge Barrett’s Catholic faith and her personal beliefs about the sanctity of life will cloud her ability to objectively interpret the law. But they will just be projecting onto Barrett the progressive belief that a “living” Constitution should reflect judges’ personal values. Barrett has made it very clear that she will eschew such an approach. Consider Judge Barrett’s handful of decisions in abortion-related cases, which have not always favored the pro-life side.

When Joe Biden complains bitterly about Judge Barrett’s nomination, we will remind him that President Trump is keeping a campaign promise with Barrett’s nomination. Not only did the President campaign on appointing exactly this kind of justice, but he released a list of his potential Supreme Court nominees in 2016 and again his year. Instead of complaining that Trump kept this promise, Biden should tell us what kind of justices he would nominate by releasing his own list of potential Supreme Court nominees.

Biden and other Democrats will try to portray Judge Barrett as someone the American people should be frightened of, as is their wont with Supreme Court nominees. But the politics of personal destruction will be a dangerous road for them to go down, both because Americans will be inspired by her story – raising seven children, including two Haitian adoptees, while reaching the heights of the legal profession – and will be reminded that Joe Biden pioneered the politicization of Supreme Court nominations when he chaired the hearings for Clarence Thomas and Robert Bork.

We are already hearing a variety of statements about the Barrett nomination that aren’t true. For one, her confirmation will not result in a 6-3 conservative majority on the Court. If there were already a majority of five conservatives on the Court, the Left would not be panicking about adding a sixth.

It is also untrue that Barrett’s confirmation will be rushed if completed by the election, which is 38 days away. Several recent Supreme Court justices were confirmed in comparable or shorter periods of time. In fact, in 1975, Justice Stevens was confirmed just 16 days after his nomination.

 Finally, it is certainly not true that Barrett’s confirmation in an election year would break with precedent. When. as now, the Senate and presidency are controlled by the same party, a new justice has been confirmed to fill an election year vacancy on the Supreme Court in 8 of 10 instances.

 Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., chairman of the Senate Republican Conference

My congratulations to Judge Barrett and her family. I look forward to reviewing her judicial record and other writings, and following her confirmation hearings.

This is a historic choice by the president. Judge Barrett is a highly qualified nominee. She will apply the law, not legislate from the bench.

This Senate will give Judge Barrett full and fair consideration, and a timely vote on the Senate floor.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson

Judge Amy Coney Barrett will make an excellent Supreme Court justice.  From her clerkship for the late Justice Antonin Scalia, prestigious career at Notre Dame and judicial experience on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Barrett’s commitment to the rule of law is clear. She is a sound jurist whose years of legal service will bring much-needed diversity to the Supreme Court. President Trump has made a wise choice.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

 This nomination is a reminder of how important it is for Americans everywhere to make their voice heard at the ballot box this November. Health care for millions of Americans is on the line. Women’s right to autonomy over our bodies is on the line.

 The president and Republicans across the country have proven time and again that they don’t share our values. They are working tirelessly to dismantle the Affordable Care Act in our courts in the midst of a global pandemic.

They don’t believe women have the right to choose what happens to our own bodies. We must hold them accountable. Register to vote, request an absentee ballot, and return it quickly. Let us turn our grief into action, let us choose hope over fear, and let us find the strength to build a stronger America for everyone.

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A Supreme Court Ruling in a Social Media Case Could Set Standards for Free Speech in the Digital Age

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a busy term that could set standards for free speech in the digital age, the Supreme... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a busy term that could set standards for free speech in the digital age, the Supreme Court on Monday is taking up a dispute between Republican-led states and the Biden administration over how far the federal government can go to combat controversial social... Read More

March 4, 2024
by Dan McCue
Justices Rule Trump Can Stay on Colorado Ballot

WASHINGTON — In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled Monday that former President Donald Trump may remain on Colorado’s... Read More

WASHINGTON — In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled Monday that former President Donald Trump may remain on Colorado’s primary ballot, rejecting a challenge to his eligibility based on a section of the 14th Amendment that bars those who have “engaged in insurrection” from holding... Read More

About as Many Abortions Happening in US Monthly as Before Roe Was Overturned, Report Finds

The number of abortions performed each month is about the same as before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and... Read More

The number of abortions performed each month is about the same as before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and the nationwide right to abortion more than a year and a half ago, a new report finds. The latest edition of the #WeCount report conducted for... Read More

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