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Amy Coney Barrett and Student Concerns Over Policy

Amy Coney Barrett | Illustration by Kayli Thompson | The Wright State Guardian


On Sept. 26, President Trump announced he would be nominating Justice Amy Coney Barrett to fill Ginsburg’s seat. Barrett currently sits on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and was a pupil of the late Justice Anton Scalia.

Following the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Sept. 8, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced the Senate and president would move swiftly to ensure that Justice Ginsburg’s seat would be filled before the election.  

Concerns over policy 

Justice Barrett’s past rulings and opinions have caused concern among liberal lawmakers. 

Nearly 200 of Barrett’s colleagues from the University of Notre Dame have called for Barrett to withdraw her name from consideration with concerns over her policy stances, primarily on climate change. One of the authors of a letter to Barrett said “to say she doesn’t have an opinion [on climate change] is appalling…There is uniform scientific consensus.”  

In 2006, Justice Barrett signed a statement calling the landmark case Roe v. Wade “barbaric” in the South Bend Tribune, stating that Roe is “an exercise of raw judicial power” and mourned the “more than 47 million children dead and counting” from abortions.  

“It’s time to put an end to the barbaric legacy of Roe v. Wade and restore laws that protect the lives of unborn children,” the statement ended. The full-page ad was paid for by the St. Joseph County Right to Life, an anti-abortion group.  

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) defended Justice Barrett’s originalist views saying “to all the people out there wondering about Judge Barrett I can tell you this: The law of Amy will not be applied to the case and controversy. It will be the law as written in the Constitution or by statute or whatever regulatory body she is going to review. She will take her job without an agenda.” 

2016 Precedent 

In 2016 Justice Antonin Scalia passed away on Feb. 13 of that year. President Obama set to nominate Merrick Garland as Scalia’s replacement but McConnell refused to bring the subject to a vote on the Senate floor.  

“Action on a supreme court nomination must be put off until after the election campaign is over” and of the American voters, “let’s give them a voice. Let’s let the American people decide,” said McConnell. 

On Wednesday, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) said “there is no precedent — none — for confirming a Supreme Court justice this late in a presidential election year, with more than 40 million ballots already cast.” 

Ginsburg’s dying wish 

Upon her death bed, Ginsburg said “my most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed,” to her family and loved ones.   

News of Ginsburg’s passing broke in the early evening of Sept. 8, and McConnell announced his plan to replace her at 8:55 p.m. that same day via a tweeted statement.  

Barrett confirmed by Judicial Committee 

On Thursday, Oct. 22, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to move the vote on Justice Barrett out of committee and on to the Senate floor. The vote was 12-0, with no Democratic Senators present for the vote.  

McConnell stated that the Senate will vote on Monday Oct. 26 to confirm Justice Barrett. The vote requires a simple majority, which the Republicans currently hold with a 53-47 majority.  

Democrat’s concern 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) held a press conference Thursday afternoon and said that he is disappointed in Republicans for “conducting the most rushed, the most partisan, and the least legitimate nomination to the Supreme Court in the nation’s history,” and that the Democrats “will not lend a single ounce of legitimacy to this sham vote in the Judiciary Committee,” according to Schumer.  

“Last week, Democrats participated in the nomination hearings because we wanted to show what was at stake for America if Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed. We made our case about risks to affordable care, especially the Affordable Care Act, reproductive freedom, the right to vote and equality for all,” said ranking member Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA). 

Student Opinions 

“I think it’s a really scary time right now because there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding her ideology and what we do know, doesn’t look good,” said senior political science major Samantha Baxter. “I am terrified more than ever of someone appointed to the highest court of the land for her lifetime that has made it clear that she will not be protecting those disenfranchised by conservative values.”


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