WASHINGTON, D.C., October 27, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Former Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Amy Coney Barrett is now officially an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, eliciting an expected wave of outrage from the political Left.
The Senate voted 52-48 Tuesday evening to confirm Barrett, President Donald Trump’s choice to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She was sworn in hours later by Justice Clarence Thomas at a White House ceremony.
A Catholic mother of seven widely regarded as a pro-life originalist, Barrett was a member of Notre Dame’s Faculty for Life group, is reported to have signed a letter published by Becket Law criticizing the Obama administration’s contraception mandate, and signed a 2006 ad declaring “we … oppose abortion on demand and support the right to life from fertilization to natural death.” She has also written multiple articles critical of the stare decisis doctrine, which grants weight to past rulings’ status as precedent, regardless of whether they were rightly decided.
Barrett’s confirmation was met with outrage across the Left, starting with the Democrat lawmakers and candidates who opposed her.
“The rushed and unprecedented confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett as Associate Justice to the Supreme Court, in the middle of an ongoing election, should be a stark reminder to every American that your vote matters,” former Vice President and current Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden said in a statement. “If you want to protect your health care, if you want your voice to be heard in Washington, if you want to say no, this abuse of power doesn’t represent you — then turn out and vote.”
His running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), said that the Senate “denied the will of the American people by confirming a Supreme Court justice through an illegitimate process.” In fact, support for confirming Barrett steadily rose to a majority over the past month, and Harris did not explain how doing so was “illegitimate.”
“Here at this late hour, at the end of this sordid chapter in the history of the Senate, the history of the Supreme Court, my deepest and greatest sadness is for the American people,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) declared Monday night from the Senate floor. “Generations yet unborn,” the pro-abortion politician said, “will suffer the consequences of this nomination.”
Several Democratic senators took to Twitter to voice their opinions:
Future generations will look to this moment in history with clarity and see what millions of Americans see right now: an illegitimate nominee rushed through an illegitimate process with dire consequences.
We faced defeat today, but we will not be defeated—we will never give up.
— Sen. Cory Booker (@SenBooker) October 27, 2020
I am frustrated, and frankly, very angry. It did not have to be this way. By rushing to confirm this Supreme Court nominee, Senate Republicans openly and unapologetically defied the will of the American people—all to further their extreme, conservative agenda.
— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) October 27, 2020
It is a sad day for the Senate and for the Court. My Republican colleagues put the rule of ‘because we can’ over the traditions and precedents of the Senate, the principles we hold dear as an institution, and the integrity of the federal judiciary.
— Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) October 27, 2020
The abortion lobby was similarly outraged, with National Abortion Federation president Katherine Ragsdale declaring that Barrett “holds extreme anti-choice views” and that her confirmation was an “infuriating” “sham.” NARAL president Ilyse Hogue called it a “shameful attack on our democracy” for which “we will see every single Republican who has played a role in this charade at the ballot box.”
Planned Parenthood Action Fund and its acting president Alexis McGill Johnson had a similar reaction:
This phony confirmation process is over but this election is not. We deserve leaders who respect our wishes and who champion our health and rights.
And we’re going to make absolutely sure these senators and Donald Trump know that.#WeDecide2020
— Alexis McGill Johnson (@alexismcgill) October 27, 2020
BREAKING: McConnell & Senate Republicans just confirmed Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, putting our repro rights and health care at risk — while people across the nation are left to fend for themselves with an expected COVID surge without any relief. What a disgrace.
— Planned Parenthood Action – Text VOTE to 22422 (@PPact) October 27, 2020
Various news personalities, celebrities, activists, and other figures also piled on, with many settling on the narrative that Barrett somehow acted improperly by participating in the White House ceremony (despite it being a common tradition for new justices of both parties):
The first thing Justice Barrett did was to participate in a campaign event at the White House for the president, eight days before an election that he has explicitly said he expects will turn on her vote.
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) October 27, 2020
1. I'm disappointed Justice Barrett didn't (politely!) decline a WH swearing-in.
2. I'm confident CJ Roberts isn't happy about this.
3. The Court has a pretty sure instinct for self-preservation. This could strengthen a sense they should from now on stay out of the 2020 election. pic.twitter.com/VSnLrOasSt— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) October 27, 2020
Revolting. Disgraceful. Unconscionable.
GOP R.I.P.— Michael Moore (@MMFlint) October 27, 2020
We deserve so much better than old white men deciding everything all the time for all of us since the beginning of America.
— Elizabeth Banks (@ElizabethBanks) October 27, 2020
Conservatives and pro-lifers, naturally, have been much happier about Barrett’s confirmation, praising Trump for his selection and Senate Republicans for seeing her through the process.
Although it remains to be seen how some of the current Republican-appointed justices would rule on major issues such as Roe v. Wade, Barrett is widely recognized as a significant rightward shift for the Supreme Court, which conservatives hope will mitigate the damage to their causes should Trump lose to Biden next week.
At the same time, many on the Left have called for Biden to cancel out Barrett if he wins by “packing” the Supreme Court, or adding judges beyond its current nine members to create a new, left-wing majority.
In fact, far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez advocated for just that in response to Barrett being sworn in last night:
Expand the court.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 27, 2020
Biden has repeatedly refused to explicitly say whether he would answer such calls, but has said he wants to institute a “bipartisan commission of scholars” to brainstorm and propose unspecified “reforms” to the federal judiciary.