Senate Confirms Amy Coney Barrett as 103rd Supreme Court Justice

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

In a 52-48 vote, the senate has confirmed that Amy Coney Barrett will replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Monday, October 26th.

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In a 52-48 vote, the senate has confirmed on Monday, October 26th that Judge Amy Coney Barrett will be the newest justice to the Supreme Court. Her confirmation was all but inevitable.

Barrett will serve on the Supreme Court for the duration of her life and she replaces Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who died at 87.

Pursuant to Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution, the President has the power to appoint Supreme Court Justices under the Appointment Power therein.

The “Advice and Consent of the Senate” language contained gives the Senate the power to examine judicial nominees and reject those they deem unqualified.

Her confirmation comes in about a week before Election Day and about 30 days after her nomination by President Trump.

Justice Clarence Thomas, also of whom has expressed conservative views, was the only Supreme Court Justice to appear with Barrett at the White House. Justice Thomas was nominated by president George H. W. Bush in 1991 and succeeded Thurgood Marshall.

On Monday night, Justice Thomas administered the official constitutional oath to Judge Amy Coney Barrett. Barrett’s confirmation means the Supreme Court now has solidified its 6-3 conservative majority.

This is a shift from a 5-4 majority that the Supreme Court has never seen in years.

Many critics and others believe this can potentially shape the future of abortion rights and health care law for generations to come.

Her appointment comes after the Supreme Court in recent years handed down two landmark cases on abortion and health care. Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), was a landmark decision involving abortion that the Supreme Court ruled in 1973.

The court held that the Constitution of the United States protects a pregnant woman’s liberty to choose to have an abortion. Additionally, the Supreme Court handed down another landmark case, National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, 567 U.S. 519 (2012).

In the days prior to her confirmation, Barrett has expressed legal opinions and remarks on her personal beliefs on abortion and gay marriage.

These statements have made her popular with the religious right, but also stark opposition from liberals.

Barrett has repeatedly insisted her faith will not affect her work. At her confirmation hearing, Barrett stated that “A judge declares independence not only from Congress and the president, but also from the private beliefs that might otherwise move her.”

Barrett currently resides in South Bend, Indiana, with her husband, Jesse, who is himself a former prosecutor currently working at a private law firm. Barrett has seven children, including two she has adopted from Haiti. Barrett has represented herself as a devout Catholic.

Barrett graduated from Notre Dame Law School, where she was voted professor of the year multiple times. Her colleagues have praised her as “collegial, civil, fair-minded, intellectually sharp, and devoted to the rule of law secured by our Constitution.”

Barrett began her legal career after law school as a judicial law clerk for Judge Laurence Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 1997. She then served as a law clerk for Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1998 to 1999.

Barrett worked for a boutique law firm for litigation from 1999 to 2002 in Washington D.C., which eventually became Baker Botts in 2001. Barrett is considered a textualist and originalist in terms of her legal analysis.

This type of analysis means that she believes the constitutional text should and is fixed at the time of its ratification, and that she considers the historical meaning of the text.

Her beliefs are in line with the late Antonin Scalia, who is an outspoken and well known originalist himself. On October 27, 2020, Barrett is scheduled to take her judicial oath and become the 103rd Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

We wish her the best of luck in upholding the rule of law in the highest court of the land.

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