Send her up!
SUPREME COURT JUSTICE AMY CONEY BARRETT?
__________
In May 2017, President Donald Trump picked Barrett to fill a vacant seat on the 7th Circuit Court. Her nomination was supported by recommendations from hundreds of colleagues and students. One letter, signed by 49 Notre Dame faculty, read:
She is a brilliant teacher and scholar, and a warm and generous colleague. She possesses in abundance all of the other qualities that shape extraordinary jurists: discipline, intellect, wisdom, impeccable temperament, and above all, fundamental decency and humanity. Indeed, it is a testament to Amy's fitness for this office that every full-time member of our faculty has signed this letter. … Despite our differences, we unanimously agree that our constitutional system depends upon an independent judiciary staffed by talented people devoted to the fair and impartial administration of the rule of law. And we unanimously agree that Amy is such a person.
In September, Barrett was brought before a Senate panel to give a breakdown of her legal philosophy. But what unfolded was a grilling over her Catholic principles.
Ahead of the hearings, Barrett had been vilified for previously written work examining tensions between Catholic principles and established case law. A coalition of left-wing activists voiced alarm at her nomination, asserting the Notre Dame professor "would put her personal beliefs ahead of the law" in cases where the two conflict.
"Stunningly, Barrett has asserted that judges should not follow the law or the Constitution when it conflicts with their personal religious beliefs," the group argued.
But supporters countered that, based on a reading of Barrett's own work, such allegations were legally unsound.
As they pointed out, Barrett has explicitly stated that "judges cannot — nor should they try to — align our legal system with the Church's moral teaching whenever the two diverge." She's also suggested that judges should recuse themselves in cases where their religious beliefs run counter to their judicial responsibility.
The detractors' position was soundly refuted by legal analysts. Still, certain members of the Senate Judiciary Committee echoed the activists' claims.
Referencing Barrett's 1998 law review article, "Catholic Judges in Capital Cases," Sen. Feinstein pressed the professor on the depth of her faith, insinuating that her Catholic principles would compromise her ability to rule fairly.
"When you read your speeches, the conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within you," Feinstein quipped. "And that's of concern when you come to big issues that large numbers of people have fought for, for years, in this country."
"It is never appropriate for a judge to apply their personal convictions, whether it derives from faith or personal conviction," Barrett answered.