Trump chooses Barrett as he moves to tilt the US Supreme Court to the right



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President Donald Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court on Saturday, and she vowed to become a judge in the mold of the late conservative Antonin Scalia, setting another milestone in Trump’s rightward shift from the highest body. judicial system of the United States.

Trump’s announcement during a flag-decked White House rose garden ceremony with Barrett, 48, by his side and his seven children at hand, sparks a fight by Senate Republicans to confirm it. as the president requested before Election Day at 5-1. / 2 weeks, when he will seek a second term in office.

If confirmed by the Senate to replace liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died at 87 on September 18, Barrett would become the fifth woman to serve on the court and push her conservative majority to a dominant 6-3. .

Like the other two Trump appointees, Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, Barrett is young enough to serve decades on the job for life, leaving a lasting conservative footprint. Barrett is the youngest Supreme Court candidate since conservative Clarence Thomas was 43 in 1991.

Scalia, who died in 2016, was one of the most influential conservative judges in recent history. Barrett previously served as Scalia’s clerk in the superior court and described him as her mentor, citing his “incalculable influence” on her life.

“His judicial philosophy is also mine: a judge must apply the law as it is written. Judges are not legislators,” Barrett said.

In court, Scalia voted to curb abortion rights, disagreed when the court legalized gay marriage – called it a “judicial coup” – and backed broad gun rights, among other positions.

Given that Trump’s fellow Republicans have a 53-47 Senate majority, confirmation seems certain, although Democrats can try to make it as difficult as possible.

An emboldened conservative majority on the Supreme Court could shift the United States to the right on hot issues, including by curbing abortion rights, expanding religious rights, repealing gun control laws, stopping the expansion of LGBT rights and endorsing new restrictions. on voting rights.

Barrett, a devout Roman Catholic who earned her law degree and taught at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, was appointed by Trump to the Chicago-based United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 2017 and is one of the favorites of religious conservatives, a key Trump. voting block.

“Today I am honored to nominate one of our nation’s brightest and most talented legal minds to the Supreme Court,” Trump said.

Trump said Barrett would be the first mother of school-age children on the court. Along with her lawyer husband, her children, two of whom were adopted from Haiti, were at the hearing.

Later Saturday night, the president drew loud cheers from thousands of supporters at a campaign rally in Middletown, Pennsylvania, when he called Barrett “an extraordinary scholar” who would uphold his “God-given rights and freedoms.”

“She should run for president,” he said, comparing her academic record with that of her Democratic rival Joe Biden.

Barrett also praised Ginsburg, saying that the late judge was “a woman of enormous talent and significance” and mentioned Ginsburg’s long friendship with Scalia.

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