Following the death of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg on September 18, Trump has been reportedly in the process of choosing her replacement. According to sources close to Trump, he has two top female contenders for The Supreme Court pick. Barbara Lago and Amy Coney Barrett are the two females who if one is selected and gets accepted as the new Justice, will shape the future rulings of the Supreme Court making it majority conservative-leaning.
Barbara Lagoa, a daughter to Cuban refugees, grew up in Hialeah, Florida outside of Miami. She received her law degree from Columbia University in 1992 and worked her way up in ranks. In 2006, she was appointed to the District Court of Appeals in Miami, and in 2019 she was appointed to Florida Supreme Court. She served as the first Latina person on the board. Barbara is a conservative catholic, and has been a member of the Federalist Society, an organization of conservatives, since 1998. Barbara has proven her beliefs in the strict application and interpretation of the law as its written. Some cases that she has ruled on include: declining raising the city’s minimum wage to more than $13 an hour, declining felons from voting unless they pay off fines and restitutions, ruled that Uber drivers aren’t granted employment benefits because they are independent contractors, and so many more.
Amy Coney Barrett was born in Louisiana. She went to Notre Dame Law School and received her degree in 1997. Amy is also very conservative and very religious. She has dissented many cases ( held strong opinions disagreeing on cases) such as: being the only judge who did not want a man who was charged with a felony crime to get his right to bear arms taken away, disagreed on a ruling that temporarily blocked a policy that would not allow green card applicants that applied for public assistance to get any, and much more. She is very against abortion, and even wrote an article where she said: ‘Criminals deserve punishments for their crimes; aged and unborn victims are innocent’.
Although having a new female to be a Justice on the Supreme Court is very influential and admirable for women everywhere, the future of The Supreme Court will be changed because of the shift of political ideologies. The Supreme Court was majority liberal, but because of Trump electing Justice Brett Kavanaugh back in 2018, and now possibly electing another because of the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the court will be majority conservative. This is a huge risk to certain cases in the past pertaining to abortion rights, immigration, and affordable health insurance policies. Time will tell what is in store for the future of the Supreme Court.