Amy Coney Barrett
Amy Coney Barrett is an American attorney and jurist serving as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. She is also a professor of law at Notre Dame Law School and was a John M. Olin Fellow in Law at George Washington University Law School.
Early life and education
Born and raised in New Orleans, Barrett graduated from St. Mary's Dominican High School in 1990. In 1994, Barrett graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in English literature from Rhodes College, where she was a Phi Beta Kappa member. In 1997, she graduated summa cum laude from the Notre Dame Law School with a Juris Doctor, where she was executive editor of the Notre Dame Law Review, a Kiley Fellow, and earned the Hoynes Prize, the Law School’s highest honor.Early career
After graduating from law school, Barrett served as a law clerk to Judge Laurence Silberman of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She then spent a year as a clerk to Associate Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1998–99. From 1999 to 2002, she practiced law at Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin in Washington, D.C..Barrett spent a year as a law and economics fellow at George Washington University before returning to her alma mater, Notre Dame, in 2002 to teach federal courts, constitutional law, and statutory interpretation. While at Notre Dame, she was named a Professor of Law in 2010, and, from 2014–17, held the Diane and M.O. Miller Research Chair of Law. Barrett has continued to teach as a sitting judge.
Barrett has published many law review articles and essays with a focus on constitutional law, originalism, and stare decisis.
Federal judicial service
Nomination and confirmation
President Donald Trump nominated Barrett on May 8, 2017, to serve as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, to the seat vacated by Judge John Daniel Tinder, who took senior status on February 18, 2015. President Barack Obama's January 2016 nominee for the vacancy, Myra C. Selby, was blocked in the U.S. Senate due to the blue slip opposition of Senator Dan Coats. Selby's nomination was denied a United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary hearing and expired a year later.A hearing on Barrett's nomination before the Senate Judiciary Committee was held on September 6, 2017. During Barrett's hearing, Democratic U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein questioned Barrett about whether her Catholic faith would influence her decision-making on the court. Feinstein, concerned about whether Barrett would uphold Roe v. Wade given her Catholic beliefs, followed Barrett's response by stating "the dogma lives loudly within you, and that is a concern". In response to Feinstein's question, the conservative Judicial Crisis Network began to sell mugs with Barrett's photo on them and displaying the Feinstein "dogma" quote. Feinstein's line of questioning was criticized by some observers and legal experts while defended by others. The issue prompted questions regarding the application of Article VI, Section 3 of the Constitution which mandates: “No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” During her hearing, Barrett said: "It is never appropriate for a judge to impose that judge's personal convictions, whether they arise from faith or anywhere else, on the law."
Democratic U.S. Senator Dick Durbin asked Barrett whether she was an "orthodox Catholic" and criticized her prior use of the term, "saying it unfairly maligns Catholics who do not hold certain positions about abortion or the death penalty." Republican Senator Chuck Grassley stated “Professor Barrett is a brilliant legal scholar who has earned the respect of colleagues and students from across the political spectrum. She's also a committed Roman Catholic and has spoken passionately about the role that her faith plays in her life. This isn't inconsistent with being a federal judge."
On October 5, 2017, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted on a party-line basis of 11–9 to recommend Barrett and report her nomination to the full Senate. On October 30, 2017, the Senate invoked cloture by a vote of 54–42. The Senate confirmed her with a vote of 55–43 on October 31, 2017, with three Democrats – Joe Donnelly, Tim Kaine, and Joe Manchin – voting for her. She received her commission on November 2, 2017.
Notable cases
First Amendment
Price v. Chicago: A unanimous panel, including Barrett, upheld a Chicago "bubble ordinance" prohibiting approaching someone who is within 50 feet of an abortion clinic without consent. Challengers argued that the ordinance prevented speech based solely upon the type of speech conducted in violation of the First Amendment. The court found that while the Supreme Court's decision in Hill v. Colorado has been undermined by more recent free speech cases, it is still the law of the land and the Chicago ordinance is not unconstitutional. The case was petitioned to the Supreme Court for certiorati, which was denied.Second Amendment
Kanter v. Barr: Barrett wrote a lengthy dissent in favor of gun-ownership rights. The plaintiff was convicted of mail fraud for submitting bills to Medicare for reimbursement for non-compliant therapeutic shoe inserts. Due to his felony conviction, he was not allowed to legally possess a firearm. He challenged this denial and the majority upheld the felony dispossession statutes as "substantially related to an important government interest in preventing gun violence." Barrett dissented, stating that while the government has a legitimate interest in denying gun possession to felons convicted of violent crimes, there is no evidence that denying guns to non-violent felons promotes this interest, and that denying such rights is a violation of the second amendment.Fourth Amendment
William Rainsberger v. Charles Benner, 17-2521: Barrett wrote the opinion in a case denying summary judgment and qualified immunity to a police detective who knowingly provided false and misleading information in an affidavit. The plaintiff, Rainsberger, was arrested for his own mother's murder based upon the defendant's falsified records used to secure a warrant for the plaintiff's arrest. The court found the defendant's lies and omissions were material to probably cause a clear violation of the plaintiff's Fourth Amendment rights to which the defendant is not eligible for qualified immunity.USA v. David Watson, 17-1651: Involved police responding to an anonymous tip that people were "playing with guns" in a parking lot. The police arrived and searched the defendant's vehicle, taking possession of two firearms. In a motion to suppress the firearms from the vehicle search, the court found that the police lacked probable cause to search the vehicle based solely upon the tip, where no crime was actually alleged. Writing for the majority, Barrett opined "the police were right to respond to the anonymous call by coming to the parking lot to determine what was happening. But determining what was happening and immediately seizing people upon arrival are two different things, and the latter was premature…Watson's case presents a close call. But this one falls on the wrong side of the Fourth Amendment."
Title IX
Doe v. Purdue University, No. 17-3565: In a Barrett-authored opinion, the court found in favor of a male student found guilty of sexual assault by Purdue University, which resulted in a one-year suspension, loss of his Navy ROTC scholarship, and expulsion from the ROTC affecting his ability to pursue his chosen career in the Navy. Doe alleged the school's Advisory Committee on Equity discriminated against him on the basis of his sex and violated his rights to due process by not interviewing the alleged victim, not allowing him to present evidence in his defense, including an erroneous statement that he confessed to some of the alleged assault, and appearing to believe the victim instead of the accused without hearing from either party or having even read the investigation report. The court found that Doe had adequately alleged that he was deprived of his occupational liberty without due process and that he had possibly been discriminated against on the basis of sex. The case was remanded to the District Court for further proceedings.Judicial philosophy
Barrett considers herself an originalist. She is a constitutional scholar with expertise in statutory interpretation. She has stated that faith and politics should be separated from the law and that "justice should not turn on what judge you get....If we reduce the courts to mere politics, then why do we need them? We already have politicians.”At an event in 2013 that reflected on the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, she described the decision—in the paraphrase by Notre Dame Magazine—as "creating through judicial fiat a framework of abortion on demand". She also remarked that it was "very unlikely" the court will overturn the core aspect of Roe v. Wade: "The fundamental element, that the woman has a right to choose abortion, will probably stand. The controversy right now is about funding. It's a question of whether abortions will be publicly or privately funded."
Potential Supreme Court nomination
Barrett had been included on President Donald Trump's list of potential Supreme Court nominees since 2017. In July 2018, following the retirement announcement of Anthony Kennedy, she was reportedly one of three finalists considered by Trump as a possible successor to Kennedy. Trump nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh for the position. Barrett is considered to be a possible nominee for future Supreme Court vacancies.Trump is reportedly "saving" Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat for Amy Coney Barrett if Ginsburg retires or dies during Trump's presidency.
Affiliations and recognition
At Notre Dame, Barrett three times received the “distinguished professor of the year” award. Barrett is affiliated with Faculty for Life, a pro-life group at the University of Notre Dame. In 2015, Barrett signed a joint letter to Catholic bishops which affirmed the Church's teachings including "the value of human life from conception to natural death," and that family and marriage are "founded on the indissoluble commitment of a man and a woman".From 2010 to 2016, she served by appointment of the Chief Justice on the Advisory Committee for the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure.
Barrett was a member of the Federalist Society from 2005 to 2006 and 2014 to 2017.
Personal life
Amy Vivian Coney is married to Jesse M. Barrett, an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana. They have seven children: five biological children and two children adopted from Haiti. Her youngest biological child has special needs.Barrett is a practicing Roman Catholic. The New York Times reported that Barrett was a member of a small, tightly knit Charismatic Christian group called People of Praise.