Amy Coney Barrett

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Amy Coney Barrett
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit From: November 2, 2017 – present
Predecessor	John Daniel Tinder
Successor	Incumbent (no successor)
Information
Spouse(s)	Jesse M. Barrett
Religion	Roman Catholic

Amy Coney Barrett (born January 28, 1972) is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, having been appointed by President Donald Trump to the position. She is considered the leading candidate to be nominated by President Trump to replaced the seat vacated by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, on the U.S. Supreme Court.

After intense, irrational liberal opposition to her confirmation, which included Dem Senator Dianne Feinstein questioning her religious beliefs, the U.S. Senate voted 55–43 to confirm Barrett on October 31, 2017, with Joe Donnelly, Tim Kaine, and Joe Manchin being the only Democrats who voted for her.

Susan B. Anthony List described Judge Barrett's confirmation as a pro-life victory: "Judge Amy Barrett’s confirmation is a victory for the pro-life movement as well as for the fundamental freedom of all Americans to live out their faith in the public square,” said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “In spite of her exemplary qualifications, Judge Barrett was subject to outrageous personal attacks for her Catholic faith from pro-abortion Senators during her confirmation hearing. Those attacks have no place in America, let alone Congress, in the 21st century.”

Axios reported a "scoop" that President Trump is "saving" Judge Barrett to be Ginsburg's replacement. As he was deliberating last year over replacing Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, Trump told confidants he had big plans for Judge Amy Coney Barrett.

"I'm saving her for Ginsburg," Trump said of Barrett, according to three sources familiar with the president's private comments. Trump used that exact line with a number of people, including in a private conversation with an adviser two days before announcing Brett Kavanaugh's nomination.

Barrett is a favorite among conservative activists, many of whom wanted her to take Kennedy’s spot."

Judge Barrett has written that stare decisis or judicial precedent is not absolutely binding and can be overturned for solid reasons: “I tend to agree with those who say that a justice’s duty is to the Constitution and that it is thus more legitimate for her to enforce her best understanding of the Constitution rather than a precedent she thinks is clearly in conflict with it,”

Early Life

Amy Vivian Coney, the oldest of seven children, was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. A lifelong Roman Catholic, she attended St. Mary's Dominican High School, where she was vice-president of the student body. After graduating in 1990, she attended Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, majoring in English literature. While there, she joined the Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society, and graduated magna cum laude in 1994, having been chosen by the English department's faculty as their most outstanding student. Coney went on to study law at the University of Notre Dame, obtaining a prestigious Kiley Fellowship; she served for a time as executive editor of the Notre Dame Law Review, and graduated summa cum laude first in her class in 1997, winning the Law School's highest honor, the Hoynes Prize.

She married Jesse M. Barrett, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana and current partner at SouthBank Legal in South Bend, Indiana. They have seven children, two of whom are adopted from Haiti.

Legal Career

After graduating from Notre Dame, Barrett spent a year as a law clerk for Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, then did the same the following year for Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia. In 1999, she joined the Washington, D.C. law firm Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin, where she litigated cases in constitutional, criminal, and commercial law. In 2002, Barrett returned to Notre Dame to join the Law School's faculty, teaching and researching in the fields of federal courts, constitutional law, and statutory interpretation. Several of the nation's leading law journals, including the Columbia, Texas, and Virginia Law Reviews, have published scholarly articles written by her on these subjects. During her time on the Notre Dame faculty, three of the Law School's graduating classes voted her "Distinguished Professor of the Year," and former students of hers later described her as "inspirational," "always approachable," and "remarkably fair-minded and smart."

Apart from her work at Notre Dame, Barrett has also served as a visiting professor at the University of Virginia and the George Washington University Law School, and is a member of the American Law Institute. From 2010 to 2016, she was a member of the Advisory Committee for the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure.

Coronavirus jurisprudence

Judge Amy Barrett and her husband Jesse.

In a challenge to a broad shutdown order by Illinois Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker which prohibited gatherings of more than 50 people, Judge Barrett joined an opinion by liberal Judge Diane Wood which ruled against the state Republican Party. The effect of the shutdown order is to block energetic Trump rallies, while allowing BLM rallies.

The Chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, Tim Schneider, declared in connection with filing this lawsuit in June:

"Gov. Pritzker is ruling Illinois like an unaccountable king where only he gets to decide which violations of his executive order have his blessing."

The opinion joined by Judge Barrett even included a warning against the state GOP not to complain too much about the shutdown order, lest the governor remove exemptions for religious services which the court said he could do.