KEY VOTE: “YES” on the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett

Today, the Senate is expected to vote on the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Judge Barrett was nominated by President Donald Trump on September 18th, 2020, following the death of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She currently serves as a judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, a position she assumed after being appointed by President Trump and confirmed by the Senate in 2017.

During her confirmation to the Seventh Circuit, Judge Barrett and her Catholic faith were infamously attacked by California Senator Dianne Feinstein, who disdainfully declared, “The dogma lives loudly within you, and that’s a concern...”

The values that “live loudly” in Judge Barrett are a strong worth ethic, a love for her country, and a deep commitment to her family and faith. Like the late Justice Ginsburg, Barrett is a mother and can relate to the lives and challenges of millions of working mothers in America. If confirmed, she will be the only sitting Justice on the Court who is a mother and the first with school-aged children.

Barrett will add further diversity to the court by being the only Justice who did not attend law school at either Harvard or Yale. After completing her undergrad at Rhodes College, Barrett attended law school at Notre Dame, where she served as the executive director of the school’s law review and graduated summa cum laude in 1997.

After law school, Barrett held two prestigious clerkships. From 1997 to 1998, she clerked for Judge Laurence Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. And from 1998 to 1999, she clerked for the late Justice Antonin Scalia, a lion of the Court and a staunch advocate for an originalist interpretation of the Constitution. It is no coincidence that many compare Barrett’s judicial philosophy to Scalia’s.

Following a brief time in the private sector, Barrett returned to the academy and served as the John M. Olin Fellow in Law at the George Washington University Law School. In 2002, Barrett returned to Notre Dame to become a full-time law professor and taught classes related to the federal courts, constitutional law, and statutory interpretation. During her 15 year tenure at Notre Dame, Barrett was named Distinguished Professor of the Year three times, served as the Diane and M.O. Research Chair of Law, and published scholarship in leading journals, including the Columbia, Virginia, and Texas Law Reviews.

In addition to her career at Notre Dame, Barrett is a member of the American Law Institute, has served as a visiting professor of law at the University of Virginia, and was appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to the Advisory Committee for the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure from 2010 to 2016.

During her time at Notre Dame and on the 7th Circuit Court, Judge Barrett has shown a commitment to interpreting the law as written, rather than legislating from the bench. John Malcolm, Vice President for the Institute for Constitutional Government at The Heritage Foundation, and Elizabeth Slattery, Legal Fellow and Appellate Advocacy Program Manager, Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation, writes:

Barrett’s scholarship, especially on originalism and judicial precedent, earned her a national reputation. A 2003 article argued that stare decisis, or adherence to past decisions, should be “flexible in fact, not just in theory,” and must not deprive litigants of a full opportunity to fully present their case.

In a 2010 article, Barrett explored textualism, explaining that this approach “has distinguished itself from other interpretive approaches” by insisting that “federal courts cannot contradict the plain language of a statute.”

And in a 2013 article, Barrett examined how stare decisis is weaker in cases that interpret the Constitution. A justice’s duty, she wrote, “is to the Constitution,” and it is “thus more legitimate for her to enforce her best understanding of the Constitution rather than a precedent she clearly thinks is in conflict with it.”

Unfortunately, the Left is demanding a Supreme Court justice who disagrees with this philosophy, will legislate from the bench, and help advance policies from the radical left. The nomination of Judge Barrett, who holds a terrific record, a deference to the Constitution, and a respect for the rule of law, will put this insistence on ice.

If confirmed, at 48 years old, Barrett could be a powerful and influential conservative voice on the Court for decades to come.