Catholic, mother of 7, a brilliant jurist, it’s really hard to get in the way of her ratification as the 9th Supreme Court justice of the United States.
Newsroom (September 30, 2020 8:00pm Gaudium Press) — “Conservative at heart”; “Anti-abortion at all costs”; “Obama-Care at risk”; “DevoutCatholic” …
Some in the press do not know what else to say to prevent Amy Coney Barrett, the worthy Trump nominee, from being ratified by the Senate as the ninth justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Not a small feat.
Her “sin”? Several. or at least it seems so according to a kind of media entitled to be the omnipotent regulators of political correctness.
She is a Catholic, not only by name but in the way a Catholic should be, that is, the way one should be. Although her figure is not at all objectionable, we can already hear a host of radicals shouting diatribes lost in a sectarian fury.
Mother of 7
Judge Barret is a mother, not of one or two children, but rather of seven; two of them are adopted Haitian orphans, received in her household shortly after an earthquake ravaged the Caribbean country in 2010. (Among her detractors there was someone with enough nerve to insinuate that these children were now black victims of white supremacist educators…)
In addition to what is already mentioned, her excellent role as a mother, wife, “birthday party organizer”, “family driver”, and now with the pandemic “Barrett’s school principal” – her academic and working life has many aspects worthy of note.
The former judge of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals is also a college educator, and taught at the well-known Notre Dame University, in at least three areas: Civil Justice, Constitutional Law, and Hermeneutics – in other words, a brilliant mind.
The daughter of a lawyer and a French teacher, who painstakingly raised 7 children in New Orleans, Amy was educated with Dominican sisters in her High School and then went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, before heading to Notre Dame Law School on a full scholarship.
Graduating at the top of her class, she had already served as executive director of the Notre Dame Law Review.
Soon after college, she began serving as an assistant to Justice Laurence Silberman, on the Court of Appeals for the Capital District, and then as an assistant to Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court. His bosses quickly realized that they were dealing with a high carat professional, and publicly expressed their esteem.
After practicing at private law firms, Judge Barrett taught at George Washington University Law School, before returning to Notre Dame University in 2002. In 2010, she was elected professor at that university. There she has been chosen, on three occasions, as “Distinguished Professor of the Year”.
Federal judge
In 2017, she was nominated by President Trump as a judge of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
These judges must be ratified by the Senate. Barrett’s intervention before that chamber on that occasion was memorable, and those who knew her at the time contemplated the beautiful spectacle of a great woman who was not only capable in legal matters but also one who knew how to properly negotiate the “traps” placed by some Democratic congressmen…
When questioned about whether her faith would not influence her practice as a judge, her answer, full of nuances, could not have been more appropriate: “My personal affiliation with the Church or my religious convictions would not affect my performance as a judge”. After that answer, it really didn’t ‘look good’ to deny someone’s office just because they were Catholic… Although in fact, one of the things that concerned Senator Dianne Feinstein most was faith, with its implications for the abortion issue: “Dogma lives strongly within you, and that’s a concern,” Feinstein remarked on the occasion.
Subsequently, the questioning to which Judge Barrett was subjected was widely criticized even by academic figures and satirically described by some as an improper “religious trial”, in fact unconstitutional.
Next: the struggle for ratification in the Senate.
The judge’s opponents already say that she will be a tough nut to crack. Namely after the well-rounded and exciting speech of acceptance of the Supreme Court nomination, in which Judge Barrett praised her predecessor. Although Amy marked her differences of position, she thanked her with elegance and briefly outlined the multiple aspects of her life and confirmed what is already evident to many: Amy Coney Barrett is on her way to becoming an icon for women in the United States. (GaudiumPress / Saul Castiblanco)
