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- Conservative attorney Amy Coney Barrett is scheduled to succeed the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the United States Supreme Court. US President Donald Trump announced the nomination on Saturday.
- The Catholic Barrett is known as an anti-abortionist. That makes his candidacy attractive to arch-conservative circles.
- Constitutional judges are appointed for life in the United States. At 48, Barrett has a long time ahead of him on the Supreme Court.
Attorney Amy Coney Barrett is one of America’s brightest legal experts, President Donald Trump said Saturday when announcing his nomination in Washington.
With the 48-year-old Barrett, conservative justices would have a clear majority of six of the nine Supreme Court seats, which could change American society forever.
The US Supreme Court often has the final say on policy issues related to issues such as abortion, immigration, gun rights, and discrimination. It is considered likely that American conservatives could make a new attempt to revoke, or at least limit, the right to abortion and same-sex marriage in court.
Catholic and anti-abortion
Barrett, 48, has already been traded as the most promising of several candidates in recent days. He has been a judge in an appeals court since 2017. The Catholic is considered an anti-abortionist.
This makes his candidacy attractive to arch-conservative circles, while liberals were already concerned in 2017. At the Senate hearing for his current position, Barrett said he was guided only by the law, not his beliefs.
Barrett’s first hearing on October 12
The judges of the Supreme Court are appointed for life. They are proposed by the president and approved by the Senate. Republicans have a majority of 53 of the 100 seats in the House.
Trump aims to fill Ginsburg’s job before the November 3 presidential election. According to media reports, Barrett’s first hearing is scheduled for October 12. With Barrett, Trump would already occupy the third seat of the Supreme Court.
Democrats want to wait until election results
So far, only two Republican senators have spoken out against such a swift decision. Democrats surrounding Trump’s challenger Joe Biden, on the other hand, are demanding that the winner of the presidential election decide who will succeed Ginsburg.
Another factor contributing to the controversy surrounding the nomination is the fact that in 2016 Republicans in the Senate blocked a candidate from then-President Barack Obama to succeed the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stated at the time, among other things, that the Senate should not hold any Supreme Court justice position in an election year. Now he withdrew this rule on the grounds that this time the White House and the Senate were in the hands of a single party.
Trump refers to the possible election result
Trump also said he wanted to keep the Supreme Court fully occupied with a view to possible disputes over the outcome of the presidential election. The president has been claiming for weeks that the publication of ballots dramatically increased the risk of voter fraud. The experts and those responsible for the elections deny it. Meanwhile, in the Corona crisis, many more American citizens than usual are voting by mail.
Ginsburg died Friday of last week of complications from cancer. The 87-year-old was a liberal icon in America.
