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Celine Huang

Nomination of a Lifetime: Who is Amy Coney Barrett, and Why Does It Matter?

On September 18th, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away, leaving a vacancy in the Supreme Court to be filled just 6 weeks before the 2020 U.S. Presidential election. What followed can only be described as a frenzy to gain control of the position left by Ginsburg, which led to the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett by President Donald Trump. Let’s take a look at Barrett, her nomination, and what her appointment could mean for U.S. and global politics for decades to come.


Amy Coney Barrett is a judge in the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, and in her three years as a federal judge and almost 15 years as a professor at Notre Dame Law School, has exhibited a nearly perfectly consistent conservative leaning, on topics including gun control, abortion, discrimination, immigration, and more. Barrett’s nomination has been supported by several anti-abortion groups, and it is predicted that she will challenge Roe V. Wade and women’s abortion rights. Additionally, her past remarks and rulings on LGBTQ+ rights have been extremely controversial with the general public. For example, Barrett’s use of the term “sexual preference” when referring to LGBTQ+ sexual orientations was widely denounced by activist groups, as it falsely implies that sexual orientation is a choice. She later apologized for this remark and stated that her personal convictions would not affect her rulings if she were to be appointed.


But why does any of this matter at all - how much influence could one person actually hold? To answer this question, we must understand how the Supreme Court of the United States works. The court consists of 9 justices who are appointed for life-long terms. Up until recently, the court consisted of a conservative majority of 5-4, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. often serving as a swing vote most often in court rulings. With the death of Ginsburg, a Democratic justice with almost perfectly consistent left-leaning votes, the appointment of Barrett would result in a 6-3 conservative majority, meaning Republican rulings would become much more common. As justices serve for their entire lives until they pass away or choose to retire, Barrett would likely serve for at least the next 30 years, alongside other Republican Justices currently in their 50s. With Ginsburg serving until her death at age 87, this next SCOTUS appointment will likely solidify the make-up of the court for decades to come.


It is for this reason that Democrats and the political left are pushing for the delay of the SCOTUS approval until after the Presidential election, while the political right and Donald Trump’s government is pushing for Barrett’s appointment before. As Senate hearings proceed and discourse continues to grow, one thing is for sure: the results of Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination will change the daily lives of millions of Americans for years and years to come.


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