Amy Coney Barrett the GOP’s secret weapon to securing the election, who is she and what does this mean for the future of the Supreme Court
As confirmation hearings are set to begin Monday for President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barret. Supporters and opponents of her confirmation have gone into action as the future of the Supreme Court for years to come hangs from thread.
In the spring of 2016 months before the election, President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland to fill the seat of late Justice Antonin Scalia. The Washington Post compiled quotes and remarks from 2016 presenting the quotes in which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declared that any appointment would be nullified and expressed that, “the American people should have a say in the court’s direction. It is a president’s constitutional right to nominate a Supreme Court justice, and it is the Senate’s constitutional right to act as a check on the president and withhold its consent.”
A power move that proved effective in the 2016 election, as many conservative voters were motivated to vote just to keep the vacant seat away from the liberals.
Now in a twisted turn of events, weeks before the election, Senate Republicans are setting their own standard aside and pressing forward to confirm Trump’s nominee Amy Coney Barrett a conservative federal appeals court judge to fulfill the seat left vacant by RBG according to a NPR article. According to an NPR article with President Trump’s re-election in doubt and the GOP in danger of losing the upper hand as Senate majority they are more than eager to confirm the nominee quickly.
Barrett’s nomination path began about four years ago, after her seventh circuit hearing, in which her catholic faith and conservative views caught the attention of President Trump, and in 2017 her name was added to the Supreme Court shortlist.
Mentor by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, according to a BBC article she is believed to be an originalist, believing that judges should interpret the words of the constitution as they were originally intended when first written, an approach many liberals oppose arguing that there must be room for mobility in accordance to societal changes. According to The New York Times, her work these past three years has been marked by care, clarity and a her commitment to Scalia’s interpretive methods.
The New York Times reports that her confirmation would also come at a time of uncertainty as President Trump denounces a peaceful transfer of power, threatening the election process and repeatedly calling into question the integrity of the vote and mail in ballots. The dispute is expected to be resolved by the Supreme Court, and if a ninth justice is not seated, it will most likely be split 4-to-4.
Trump has also eagerly made this issue the staple of his campaign, chanting and encouraging his supporters with the words, “Fill That Seat!”
If confirmed according to an AP news article, the balance of the court would significantly shift 6–3 in favor of conservatives. And at just 48 year’s old she would hold the seat for many decades to come. A vote that alongside her conservative majority peers could have the final say on divisive issues such as abortion rights, health care and gun control.
In an interview for TIME magazine Julie Gunnigle, a former student of Judge Barrett says that her combination of intellect, ideology and politeness makes her “more effective, more dangerous.” As she holds the power to influence more than votes but the language of opinions that become the law of the land. By pulling the center of the court to the right, her confirmation would ensure that most decisions will now entail how the six conservatives craft the ruling rather than determining the actual ruling. One thing however is certain, if confirmed Barrett will enact change and influence generations to come.
