Trump to Name Amy Coney Barrett as Supreme Court Nominee

By Mary Anne R. First Posted: Sep 25, 2020 09:59 PM EDT

President Donald Trump intends to nominate Amy Coney Barrett to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court.

According to some Republican sources, the White House indicates that Barrett is the intended nominee to fill the Supreme Court vacancy.

Barrett, a federal appellate judge and Notre Dame law professor, met Monday with Trump at the White House. But sources noted that until the President announces it, he can always make a last-minute change.

Reports said that Trump would announce his nominee on Saturday afternoon.

Barrett is seen to tilt the balance of power on the court further to the right, possibly ahead of a consequential case on health care to be argued the week after Election Day.

If Barrett's Senate confirmation is successful before the November election, the appointment will mark Trump's third Supreme Court pick in one presidential term. That strengthens the conservative hold in the court for a generation.

Since Ginsburg died last Friday, Barrett has been the leading choice throughout the week. According to two of the sources, Barrett is the only potential nominee to have met with Trump in person.

Trump was familiar with Barrett already. She was already a top contender last time there was a Supreme Court vacancy, when Trump chose Justice Brett Kavanaugh instead.

A former senior administration official familiar with the nomination said, "she was the plan all along." The former official noted that Barrett is the most distinguished and qualified by traditional measures.

"She has the strongest support among the legal conservatives who have dedicated their lives to the court. She will contribute most to the court's jurisprudence in the years and decades to come," the official noted.

Advocates on the right have supported her possible nomination because of her writing about faith and the law.

What Happens If She Is Confirmed?

Barrett's possible presence in the court will give the conservative wing a 6-3 majority. That allows other conservative justices to bypass Chief Justice John Roberts.

Her appointment will start a huge shift in the Supreme Court's center of gravity, according to a report.

It was said that Barrett would be the third-most conservative justice on the court, just to the left of Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. She will also be to the right of Trump's two previous nominees, Justice Neil Gorsuch and Kavanaugh.

In earlier reports, Trump said that she was saving Barrett for Ginsburg back when she was also in the list of possible nominees in 2018.

"I'm saving her for Ginsburg," Trump was quoted.

Barrett, 48, is a devout Catholic mother of seven. She and her husband have five biological children and adopted two from Haiti.

Her possible succession has raised concerns with fear that she would overturn the 1973 ruling, which safeguards abortion. Barrett opposes abortion. She has already talked about her faith and its role in how she views the law.

A colleague of Barrett, Notre Dame law professor Paolo G Carozza, found some of the senators' questions of whether her faith might affect the way she interprets law "laughable."

"The only way in which her religious convictions are going to affect what she does as a judge is that they give her the humility to say, 'What I do is all about the law and all about interpreting the law and the basic values of upholding the rule of law and the legal system and nothing else'," Carozza said.