By Philip Baillargeon
Judge Amy Coney Barrett accepts President Donald Trump’s Nomination to the Supreme Court in the Rose Garden
Source: Alex Brandon/Associated Press, https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/scotus-nominee-amy-coney-barrett-husband-had-covid-19-officials-say/
In discussing the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, we often neglect the person in favor of the procedure. Will Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell be able to confirm her before the election? Will Democrats, permitting they win control of the presidency and the Senate, expand the number of seats on the court if Senator McConnell does get his confirmation hearing? Will COVID-19 yet again upend the proceedings of government?
In the eventuality that Judge Barrett becomes Justice Barrett, let’s dive into her upbringing, education, and record to understand the impact of this nomination on the future of the United States.
A Quick Biography: Amy Vivian Coney, later Amy Coney Barrett, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, received a Catholic education at St. Catherine of Siena elementary school and St. Mary’s Dominican High School, and would go on to graduate with honors at Tennessee’s Rhodes College and with distinction at Notre Dame Law School. She would be the youngest justice on the court if confirmed at the age of 48.
Her Experience: Barrett has clerked for some of the most conservative justices in the history of the court, namely Justice Antonin Scalia. Following her work in Washington, she returned to Notre Dame and became a tenured professor with over a decade of experience as a professor of a premiere law school. To ascertain how she would presumably rule on the high court, we have an extensive record of her musings at Notre Dame.
Her Record: If there ever is a confirmation hearing, this section will surely take most of the allotted time to discuss. Judge Barrett has openly disagreed with several Supreme Court rulings that a majority of Americans approve of in recent polls; in 2012 she signed a statement that criticized President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA) over its universal coverage of contraceptives, and in 2015 she signed a letter that both claimed that life begins at conception (clearly demonstrating animosity toward the landmark ruling Roe v. Wade) and demonstrated a disposition against same-sex marriage (running afoul of Obergefell v Hodges). Appointing her to the bench and establishing a 6-3 conservative majority on the court could mean the termination of the ACA, denial of access to birth control for women, and a rescindment of the case that required states to grant marriage liscences to same-sex couples, any one of which being a major paradigm shift in American culture.
Despite the diagnosis of President Trump and multiple Republican senators, some of whom are on the committee that would hold Judge Barrett’s confirmation hearing, Senate Republicans look to hold a final vote in the final week of October, just before the general election on November 3rd.
