Currents News Staff
Conservative Catholic Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Trump’s pick to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, delivered her opening statement on Oct. 12.
“I am honored and humbled to appear before you today,” said Judge Amy Coney Barrett, making her case for the Supreme Court. “I believe Americans of all backgrounds deserve an independent supreme court that interprets our constitution and laws as they are written.”
The judge spoke about her judicial philosophy, her experience and her large family, saying that if confirmed, she might bring a few new perspectives to the bench.
“I would be the first mother of school-age children to serve on the court,” she said. “I would be the only sitting justice who didn’t attend law school at Harvard or Yale. I am confident that Notre Dame will hold its own, and maybe I could even teach them a thing or two about football.”
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, including vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris, voiced their opposition to her nomination, saying it puts in jeopardy voting rights, workers’ rights, abortion rights and healthcare.
“I do believe this hearing is a clear attempt to jam through a Supreme Court nominee who will take healthcare away from millions of people during a deadly pandemic that has already killed more than 214,000 Americans,” said Harris.
Republicans brought up faith. Senator Joshua Hawley of Missouri demanded that attacks on Barrett’s Catholic faith stop, calling it “this pattern and practice of religious bigotry because that’s what it is.
“When you tell somebody that they’re too catholic to be on the bench, when you tell them they’re going to be a Catholic judge not an American judge, that’s bigotry,” he said. “The pattern and practice of bigotry from members of this committee must stop.”
Barrett ended her statement by thanking Americans who have reached out to her with messages of support and prayer.
“I believe in the power of prayer, and it has been uplifting to hear that so many people are praying for me,’ she said.