She's No Rookie: Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett Emerges as a Key Influencer in Her First Term

• Jurisdiction: United States,Federal
• Citation: Vol. 34 No. 3
• Publication year: 2021
• Author: By James Azadian
• topic: Constitutional Law,Health Law

She's No Rookie: Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett Emerges as a Key Influencer in Her First Term

By James Azadian

James Azadian is a Member in the Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. offices of Dykema Gossett LLP. He heads the firm's California Appellate Practice and also serves as the co-leader of the firm's nationwide Appellate and Critical Motion Practice. JAzadian@Dykema.com

Amy Coney Barrett is the fifth woman to join the Supreme Court, the second female justice nominated by a Republican president, and the first woman to fill a vacancy created by another woman on the Court, with the passing of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She is also the first justice who is the mother of school-aged children (seven, to be exact) and, as noted by then-Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, "this is the first time in American history that we've nominated a woman who's unashamedly pro-life and embraces her faith without apology." Of the current justices, Justice Barrett is the only one who did not receive her law degree from Harvard or Yale, and the only justice in the Court's history to graduate from Notre Dame Law School.

Before Justice Barrett was nominated to the Supreme Court, she served as a law clerk to the late Justice Antonin Scalia, as a law professor at her alma mater, and as a federal court of appeals judge. During her circuit judge confirmation hearing in 2017, her name made headlines when certain senators pressed about her faith and how it may impact her forthcoming jurisprudence. "The dogma lives loudly within you," California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein sternly told Barrett during the hearing. Those comments were widely criticized as showing religious bigotry in the Senate's consideration of Barrett for the circuit post. Undeterred, Barrett responded: "I would never impose my own personal convictions upon the law."

Three years later, Barrett was again poised to appear before the Senate, but this time for her Supreme Court confirmation hearing. As she accepted the President's nomination, her first words were to praise Justice Ginsburg: "Should I be confirmed, I will be mindful of who came before me.... The flag of the United States is still flying at half-staff in memory of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to mark the end of a great American life. Justice Ginsburg began her career at a time when women were not welcome in the legal profession, but she not only broke glass ceilings, she smashed them." At the time of her Supreme Court confirmation hearing, Barrett's critics were no longer focused on her faith. They were primarily concerned that she would provide the critical vote needed to eviscerate the Affordable Care Act (also known

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as Obamacare), with the passing of Justice Ginsburg leaving the Court seemingly divided 4-4 on the subject. Once again, Barrett's name was vaulted in headlines, this time as the one who would take a flamethrower to Obamacare, with her critics insisting that she would strike down the Act if she was confirmed. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer boldly declared that "a vote by any Senator for Judge Amy Coney Barrett is a vote to strike down the Affordable Care Act and eliminate protections for millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions."

Nevertheless, the Senate confirmed Barrett in a 52-48 vote (almost strictly along party lines, with all the Democrats and one Republican voting against her). She became the 103rd associate justice of the Supreme Court on October 27, 2020, nearly a month after the Court's 2020 Term was already underway. It was an unprecedented and unceremonious introduction to the Court, which remained closed due to the pandemic, causing...