With the recent death of legend Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the president and Senate have been discussing filling the vacant seat of Supreme Court justice, despite her wish to not be replaced until a new president is elected.
In 2016, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to elect Merrick Garland as the new Supreme Court justice after the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Flash forward four years later and President Donald Trump has nominated a new Supreme Court justice. Although it’s not fully confirmed by the Senate, Mitch McConnell has clearly proven whose side he is on, as he fully supports filling Ginsburg’s seat of a new Supreme Court justice.
Trump’s nominee of Supreme Court justice is Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a Catholic-conservative mother of seven. Here are a few things you need to know about Barrett’s political views and how they affect the people who Ginsburg worked so hard to protect.
- She doesn’t support abortion
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When it comes to Roe v. Wade, Judge Amy Barrett has called abortion “always immoral” and voted against abortion rights as a federal appeals court judge.
While working on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, Barrett ruled on two abortion-related cases, with both allowing restrictions on access to abortion.
According to USA Today, Barrett was part of “Faculty for Life,” an anti-abortion group at the University of Notre Dame. With her belief that life begins from conception, many are fearful that she’ll overturn Roe v. Wade.
- View’s on LGBTQ+ issues
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Considering Barrett became a judge in 2017, she hasn’t had that much experience when it comes to rulings regarding the LGBTQ+ community. However, a few statements have been condemned by the Human Rights Campaign in which she misgendered transgender women and referred to them as “physiological males.”
To give more context on what her views are on LGBTQ+ issues, Barrett gave a lecture at Jacksonville University in which she stated that those arguing in favor of transgender bathroom access “maybe…are right.”
- Rulings regarding racism
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Barrett refused to hear a case regarding a Black Autozone employee who faced racial segregation after being transferred to another Autozone location.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission attempted to stop the Autozone agency from transferring the employee to another location, due to the fact that it wanted to “reflect area demographics.”
Her refusal is questionable and quite concerning, especially now with police killings of Black people still being an ongoing issue within the country.
- Thoughts on immigration
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Trump’s policy of denying immigrants permanent residence if they become regular users of public assistance was defended by Barrett, who stated in her dissent of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals that the law was not “unreasonable.”
In a previous ruling, Barrett dissented that a counselor’s office has the right to deny a visa if a person has attempted to smuggle a child more than once to the United States.
Her support of anti-immigration policies has raised concerns within the Latinx community, as countless of immigrant women have received hysterectomies at ICE detention centers.
- Healthcare
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The Affordable Care Act has repeatedly been criticized by Barrett.
Before joining the federal circuit court, Barrett wrote a law review article criticizing the Supreme Court’s ruling that the ACA is an individual mandate as a tax.
Overall, Judge Amy Coney Barrett clearly has contrasting values and beliefs to previous Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who established many court rulings that support women’s rights, LGBTQ+ issues, civil rights and immigration laws.