US President Donald Trump nominated conservative Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court to fill in the vacancy created by the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The 48-year-old judge is Trump’s third such nomination after Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh.
This is my third such nomination after Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh, and it is a very proud moment indeed,” Trump said in the Rose Garden.
Barret, in response to her nomination, said that he had no illusions that the road ahead of her was easy, adding that she had never imagined to find herself in this position.
“I assure you that I will meet the challenge with both humility and courage,” she added.
Here is all you need to know about the US President’s pick:
• Judge Amy Coney Barrett has been on the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals since 2017, also as a Donald Trump nominee. According to Trump, she is one of the US’ ”most brilliant and gifted legal minds”.
• Her appointment in place of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will give conservatives a 6-3 majority at the US Supreme Court and will provide a boost to Trump’s re-election effort. The majority on the Supreme Court is likely to last a long time and ensure an enduring legacy for Trump.
• Barret, 48, will become the youngest justice on the court if confirmed.
• She was instrumental in getting a ruling thrown out that blocked an Indiana law that would make it harder for a minor to have an abortion without her parents being notified, according to news agency Associated Press. The Supreme Court ordered a new look at the case after her intervention.
• In a dissent in 2019, Barrett argued that a conviction for a nonviolent felony shouldn’t automatically disqualify someone from owning a gun. According to AP, Barrett wrote that “while both Wisconsin and the United States have an unquestionably strong interest in protecting the public from gun violence, they have failed to show, by either logic or data that disarming Kanter substantially advances that interest.”
• In the same year, she wrote a unanimous three-judge panel decision making it easier for men alleged to have committed sexual assaults on campus to challenge the proceedings against them.
• Barret’s ideological mentor was late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.
• She would be the sixth justice on the nine-member court to be appointed by a Republican president, and the third of Trump’s first term in office.
