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Donald Trump supporters left no doubt this weekend about what to expect from the president: “Fill that seat!” The crowd yelled at an election rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He should fill the post of judge, which was vacated after Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death on the Supreme Court, himself, and not make the decision dependent on how the presidential election ends in early November.
In the past, Trump had published lists of potential candidates who would have a chance to be nominated if there was a vacancy on the Supreme Court. Senators Ted Cruz of Texas, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Josh Hawley of Missouri were among the youngest.
In Fayetteville, however, the president announced: “It will be a woman. A very talented, very bright woman.” On Friday night Trump reportedly singled out two women in a phone call with Mitch McConnell, the Republican Majority Leader in the Senate: Federal Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Barbara Lagoa. Before leaving for the election campaign in North Carolina, Trump found words of praise for both women: Barrett was “highly respected”; He doesn’t know Lagoa, but he has heard “incredible things” about her. Several other women were recently on Trump’s list, of whom Judge Joan Larsen of Michigan might have the best chance of being outsiders.
The three candidates have two things in common: If one of them becomes Bader Ginsburg’s successor, the Supreme Court should move to the right. Each of them could shape the court and its jurisdiction for decades: if appointed, the three would be the youngest of the nine judges.
Amy Coney Barrett: Favoritin dies
Barrett is considered the most promising candidate for the nomination. The former Notre Dame Law School professor is a darling of the conservative legal system. She is a protégé of former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in 2016, and a luminary among conservative jurists. Like Scalia, Barrett supports what is known as “originalism” of the law. In interpreting the constitution, she orients closely to its wording, as one person would have understood it at the time the text was written.
If Trump nominates the 48-year-old, this would be a message to his religious conservative supporters, among other things. The New Orleans mother of seven is a devout Catholic with conservative views on abortion. Human life begins with conception, says Barrett in a 2013 article in “Notre Dame Magazine.”
Barrett joined the Seventh District Court of Appeals in Chicago in November 2017. The Senate confirmed his appointment at that time with 55 to 43 votes. Of his hearing on the House Judiciary Committee at the time, an exchange with Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein is particularly remembered. Barrett was highly skeptical of the attorney’s views on the abortion issue. Barrett responded that it was inappropriate for a judge to impose his own personal convictions on the law, regardless of whether they originated in faith or elsewhere. Democrats fear, however, that Barrett could help overturn “Roe v. Wade”: This historic and controversial 1973 Supreme Court ruling states that pregnant women have the right to choose an abortion for themselves.
Barrett was one of the most promising candidates for the last Supreme Court vacancy two years ago. Trump invited her to speak at the time, but ultimately settled on Brett Kavanaugh.
Barbara Lagoa: Will she be the first Supreme Court judge with Cuban roots?
Barbara Lagoa also belongs to the small group of candidates. The 52-year-old has three children and is from Miami. She was a constitutional judge in Florida, the first woman of Hispanic roots to hold the position. Lagoa’s appointment as Supreme Court judge would also be historic: she would be the first woman of Cuban descent to appear on the Supreme Court. From Trump’s point of view, Lagoa’s origins could speak for her: Florida is one of those swing states that make elections.
The president nominated the attorney in 2019 for a federal judicial position in the Eleventh District Court in Atlanta, which covers the states of Alabama, Florida and Georgia. The Senate confirmed it in all parties: 80 out of 100 senators voted for Lagoa. Compared to Barrett, she is considered a less polarizing candidate.
Yet Democrats are likely to criticize Lagoa’s record as a judge if Trump nominates her. This is particularly true of this month’s decision on the voting rights of convicted criminals in Florida, which the attorney supported. This is likely to prevent tens of thousands of people from voting in November.
In any case, the court should have a more conservative profile if Lagoa replaces the liberal Bader Ginsburg. Lagoa can recall a long legal career in his home state. The Columbia Law School graduate worked there, among other things, as a federal attorney before being named a state constitutional judge.
Joan Larsen: the embattled Michigan woman
In the best of cases, Joan Larsen has other people’s opportunities. The 51-year-old is a federal judge in sixth district court. The Senate confirmed her appointment in 2017 with a vote of 60-38.
Like Barrett, Larsen also worked as a contributor to the late Scalia. As for Lagoa, there could also be tactical reasons for Larsen: Before his appeal to federal court, he was a judge in Michigan, like Florida, a decisive “battlefield state.”
Whatever Trump’s decision, one thing is for sure: he will make it quickly. The president announced that he would present his nomination this week.
