Barrett’s Confirmation Shows a Split Senate, Nation
posted by Brittany Doss | October 30, 2020 | In NewsJustice Amy Coney Barrett, the fifth woman of 115 justices in America’s history, was sworn into the court on October 27. She was nominated by President Trump.
Justice Barrett will fill the vacancy left by the death of Justice Ruth Baden Ginsburg. Ginsburg’s tenure on the court was marked by influential rulings in favor of the rights of marginalized groups and other liberal causes, such as in the 1996 case that permitted females to attend Virginia Military Institute, the former last all-male undergraduate public university; her dissent in 2000 case surrounding the presidential election between former President Bush and Al Gore; and the 2015 case allowing same-sex marriages nationwide.
Today, the U.S Supreme Court has a 6-3 justice ideological split, with conservatives serving as the majority. Support for Justice Barrett was split along party lines inside the Senate, with a 52 to 48 decision. Not a single Senate Democrat voted for Justice Barrett. The starkly partisan confirmation is unusual in modern politics, as the last time a president’s party confirmed a supreme court justice without an opposition party vote was in 1869, according to the Washington Post.
The split in the Senate can also be seen in polls about Justice Barrett’s confirmation. A October 21 poll by Politico found that 51% of Americans believed she should be confirmed, compared to 28% that believe she should not.
With her appointment so close to the presidential election, there is fear that Barrett will target and negatively impact current legislation surrounding voting rights, reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, racial justice, equal pay, and more.
According to the Washington Post, Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) said, “We can have the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or we can have Amy Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court. We can have the ACA or we can have the ACB, but we can’t have both.”
However, conservatives express their support for Justice Barrett’s appointment: “She is the perfect combination of brilliant jurist and a woman,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president the Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion political group, as reported by the New York Times.
As reassurance, Justice Barrett spoke of her independence from Congress, the president, and her private beliefs, “My fellow Americans, even though we judges don’t face election, we still work for you,” Barrett said.
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