High court front-runner hailed by right, feared by left
Last edited Mon Sep 21, 2020, 03:55 PM - Edit history (1)
CHICAGO (AP) — A front-runner to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a federal appellate judge who has established herself as a reliable conservative on hot-button legal issues from abortion to gun control.
Amy Coney Barrett, a devout Catholic, is hailed by religious conservatives and others on the right as an ideological heir to conservative icon Antonin Scalia, the late Supreme Court justice for whom she clerked.
Liberals say Barrett’s legal views are too heavily influenced by her religious beliefs and fear her ascent to the nation’s highest court could lead to a scaling back of hard-fought abortion rights. She also would replace the justice who is best-known for fighting for women’s rights and equality.
President Donald Trump has said he’ll nominate a woman and Barrett is thought to be at the top of his list of favorites. The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge was considered a finalist in 2018 for Trump’s second nomination to the high court, which eventually went to Brett Kavanaugh after Justice Anthony Kennedy retired. Barrett’s selection now could help Trump energize his base weeks before Election Day.
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To Conservatives, Barrett Has 'Perfect Combination' of Attributes for Supreme Court
Two years ago, after nominating Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, President Donald Trump strongly hinted that his choice for the next opening would be a former law professor he had named to a federal appeals court the year before: Judge Amy Coney Barrett.
Now, three years into that job, Barrett is regarded — at least for now — as the leading contender to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday. If Barrett were nominated and confirmed, she would be the sitting justice with the least courtroom experience, but one viewed as a home run by conservative Christians and anti-abortion activists.
“She is the perfect combination of brilliant jurist and a woman who brings the argument to the court that is potentially the contrary to the views of the sitting women justices,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of the Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion political group, who has praised Trump’s entire shortlist.
The nomination of a judge whom Trump was quoted last year as “saving” to be Ginsburg’s replacement would almost surely plunge the nation into a bitter and divisive debate over the future of abortion rights, made even more pointed because Barrett would replace a justice who was an unequivocal supporter of those rights. That is a debate Trump has not shied away from as president, as his judicial appointments and efforts to court conservatives have repeatedly shown.
https://news.yahoo.com/conservatives-barrett-perfect-combination-attributes-115843675.html
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