On Saturday, President Donald Trump formally announced conservative appellate judge, Amy Coney Barrett, as his Supreme Court nominee to fill the vacant seat of liberal icon, Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The move comes just 38 days before Election Day.
Barrett, 48, appeared with Trump at a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden as he made the announcement.
“Today it is my honor to nominate one of our nation’s most brilliant and gifted legal minds to the Supreme Court,” Trump said. Turning to Barrett, he continued: “You are very eminently qualified for the job.”
Reuters reported that Barrett was joined at the ceremony by her lawyer husband and their seven children, two of whom were adopted from Haiti.
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“I love the United States and I love the United States Constitution,” said Barrett, adding that she was “deeply honored” in the confidence that Trump had shown in her.
Trump’s action in selecting Barrett is a transparent effort to tilt the nations’ highest court further to the right with a nominee who, if confirmed, would form a 6-3 conservative majority, and would potentially impact a generation of rulings on issues ranging from Obamacare to immigration to abortion.
As Politico reported, Barrett is expected to receive broad support from Senate Republicans — who hold a 53-47 Senate majority — since she was in consideration two years ago for the seat that ultimately went to Brett Kavanaugh.
She is also hailed by Republicans for her conservative stance on issues like abortion. Barrett reportedly stated that “life begins at conception” during a 2013 speech on Roe v. Wade.
Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, has said the winner of the election should get to replace Ginsburg. As Democrats ponder tactics that might halt Barrett’s confirmation, they are outraged over the hypocrisy of Mitch McConnell who refused to consider President Barack Obama‘s 2016 Supreme Court nomination of Merrick Garland because it came during an election year.
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Like Trump’s two other appointees, Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Kavanaugh in 2018, Barrett is young enough to serve on the Supreme Court for decades, and she is the youngest nominee since conservative Clarence Thomas who was 43 in 1991.
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