“The state controlling a woman would mean denying her full autonomy and full equality.”
– Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Ruth Bader Ginsburg fought her entire life for women’s rights and equality. She was the second woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court and faced gender discrimination everywhere for all of her life. On September 18, 2020, Ruth Bader Ginsburg lost her battle with cancer. Almost immediately on September 26, Donald Trump nominated Amy Coney Barnett. On October 27, a woman with no morals became her replacement on the Supreme Court. It has been a sad, sad past few days for our country.
Amy Coney Barnett is a devout Catholic. She has had only two years in private practice. She has never tried a case, has never argued an appeal and has never argued before the Supreme Court. Most work experience stems from her fifteen years in teaching. She has never served as a judge until the year 2017 and her lack of experience is startling. She is the least experienced person in the Supreme Court in the past 30 years.
Her views are also extremely startling in the modern world. She wants to ban all abortions. She has refused to answer questions regarding the protection of birth control, and someone who wanted to protect birth control would not hide it. She has also not answered questions regarding the protection of same-sex marriage. Likewise, if you support something you would not stay quiet about it. She has, however, mentioned that marriage is between a man and a woman, which is basically stating her belief that she does not support the LGBT community.
Barrett’s values on healthcare are baffling as well. In the current COVID-19 pandemic, she is in favor of overturning the Affordable Care Act that millions of people rely on for their health insurance. While the economy is horribly dwindling during this recession and the coronavirus is spreading rapidly, Barrett wants to take away insurance coverage while millions of people are getting sick from this deadly pandemic.
She is an NRA approved justice. Putting more pro-second amendment justices on the supreme court promotes a lack of balance in views. Amy Coney Barrett has also said that someone being called the N-word does not create a hostile work environment. She considers herself a Constitution Originalist. An originalist is someone who believes that you should follow the Constitution exactly the way it is worded. However, the constitution was written hundreds of years ago. It is not possible for each sentence in the Constitution to have only one meaning. Women and the LGBT community did not even have rights during that time. We cannot act like the Constitution does not need to be modernized to apply to today’s world.
In terms of immigration, Amy Coney Barrett helped advance Trump’s immigration policies, which required imposing a wealth test on the immigrants who decide to come to the States. She has talked about why the US has every right not to allow people who become dependent on government assistance in the future even if they have never needed help before. This point of view that many conservatives have is plain ridiculous. What happened to America being the land of opportunities? These immigration restrictions are cruel and harsh.
As you can see, Barrett’s views on a lot of topics should not even be considered political. Abortion rights is not a political topic, it is a human rights topic. Every person should be able to have control over their bodies. It is not hard to let people decide how they want to live their life. Also, you can still be pro-choice even if you are against abortions because a person can be pro-choice and decide that they do not want to have an abortion. The whole point is that it is their choice. Her views on the LGBT community and being against same-sex marriage is also not political. It is about human rights. Every human being should have the right to marry whoever they choose. Just because you do not agree with them marrying the same sex does not mean you should control who they can and can’t marry.
The most shocking part about Amy Barrett’s confirmation is that Barrett is a part of a Christian group called the People of Praise. This group believes that men should be the head of their families and have authority over their wives. This group has some correlating views to the People of Hope, which is an organization that was inspired by Margaret Atwood to write The Handmaid’s Tale. For Ruth Bader Ginsburg to be replaced by her is the worst type of irony. As a woman, shame on you, Amy Coney Barrett.