Amy Coney Barrett, golden girl of religious right, leads race for vacant Supreme Court spot
The frontrunner to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the bench is a 48-year-old mother of seven who has Democrats worried.
The frontrunner to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg is Amy Coney Barrett, a devout Catholic beloved of the religious right.
The 48-year-old judge was a favourite in the race two years ago when justice Anthony Kennedy retired from America’s highest court. In the end, Brett Kavanaugh, another social conservative, was appointed. Donald Trump reportedly said at the time that he did not plump for Barrett because he was “saving her for Ginsburg”. Now that time has arrived.
Barrett, who lives in South Bend, Indiana, has seven children, including two adopted from Haiti, one of whom joined the family after surviving the 2010 earthquake. She is believed to be staunchly anti-abortion and against gay marriage.
The former law professor at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, came to national attention in 2017 during her confirmation hearing for a seat on the US Court of Appeals for the seventh circuit when Democrats suggested her faith might influence her judgements. “The dogma lives loudly within you,” said Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic senator for California, during the hearing. “That’s of concern.”
Defending herself as a “faithful Catholic”, Barrett replied: “I would stress that my personal church affiliation or my religious belief would not bear in the discharge of my duties as a judge.” She was confirmed.
The key question now is whether Barrett would vote to overturn Roe v Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that made abortion a right under the constitution.
She has called that decision “erroneous” but has also voiced opinion that it will not be overturned. “The fundamental element, that the woman has a right to [an] abortion, will probably stand,” she said in 2013. “The controversy right now is about funding; it’s a question of whether abortions will be publicly or privately funded.”
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