Amy Coney Barrett nominated to Supreme Court

The 48-year-old will appear at Judiciary Committee hearings, beginning Oct. 12, as the Republican Party pushes for her confirmation to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s empty seat before the general election. WikiCommons

President Donald Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court at a White House ceremony in the Rose Garden Sept. 26. Trump had previously nominated Barrett to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2017, and in 2018 she was considered a qualified candidate to replace then-Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retired chair. During the event, Barrett spoke on her candidacy to uphold the Constitution and touched upon Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s legacy as a Supreme Court justice of 27 years.

“She not only broke glass ceilings, she smashed them," Barrett said. "For that, she has won the admiration of women all over the country and indeed all over the world."

Confirmation hearings for Barrett are estimated to begin Oct. 12. Twenty-two senators make up the Judiciary Committee, led by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-KY), and the group is anticipated to hold four days of hearings before voting on whether to recommend her nomination to the Senate, which is slated for Oct. 22. A justice confirmed after July in an election year is unprecedented, and this confirmation process – involving an FBI background check and meetings between the nominee and senators – typically takes around 70 days after nomination. However, with only 37 days left until Nov. 3, the Republican Party is determined to put Barrett in the vacant Supreme Court seat before the higher court begins disputing cases after the general election.

"It is important that we proceed expeditiously to process any nomination made by President Trump to fill this vacancy," Graham, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, wrote in a letter to Democrats. "I am certain if the shoe were on the other foot, you would do the same."

Amy Coney Barrett, presidential nominee to the Supreme Court. WikiCommons

If confirmed, this will be Trump’s third judicial appointment to the Supreme Court. Barrett herself was a law clerk for former Associate Justice Antonin Scalia and would help the GOP tip the Supreme Court scale to a 6-3 majority, as her interpretations of the Constitution are originalist and textualist. Her rulings lean conservative on issues like health care, discrimination, immigration and abortion, which concerns liberals despite Barrett’s 2017 statements of support for precedent in Roe v. Wade.

“Nobody who goes to get an abortion has, I don’t think, ever gone in there singing happy songs and planned it from the day they were born,” said Ana Vargas, the president of Chapman Feminists and a senior screenwriting major. “The fear (of overturning abortion rights) is super valid and that prospect is scary for anyone who is able to get pregnant.”

Vargas called attention to Ginsburg’s final wish of being replaced only after the next president is installed, and said Trump’s actions demonstrate his “blatant disregard for another human being.” Two other Republican senators – Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) – oppose the vote before the election, but the Senate appears to have 51 Republicans – the majority they need – to confirm Barrett. 

If the GOP secures the vote, Barrett will be the youngest justice confirmed at 48 years old, and can serve as a conservative influence on politics for decades to come. John Compton, the chair of Chapman University’s political science department, told The Panther that political partisanship in the legislative and judicial branches of government have increasingly damaged the intent behind checks and balances.

“To be honest, I’m not sure how we’ll step back from this … Somehow we need to get to a situation where party elites can ratchet things back,” Compton said. “Otherwise, the risk is the broader public starts to view the (Supreme) Court and the judiciary as just another political branch, and it loses legitimacy.”