Human Rights

Amy Coney Barrett Has Been Having a Really, Really Bad Summer So Far

When Amy Coney Barrett joined with her fellow conservative justices to overturn Roe v. Wade, thus upending 50 years of progressive women’s rights, she probably didn’t foresee the trouble that might be heading her way. But she’s seeing it now.

Last month, after the Dobbs draft was leaked to the public before the final ruling was announced, The Guardian published an explosive report about the time Barrett spent as a member of People of Praise, an anti-LGBTQ Christian cult. There, she was considered a female leader. The publication’s report included allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior against group leader Kevin Ranaghan and his wife, Dorothy, who Barrett lived with for a couple of years during the mid-90s.

Then there was last week when a very large group of peaceful protesters converged in front of her home in a quiet Virginia neighborhood, carrying signs that read “Keep Your Rosaries Off My Ovaries,” “No Forced Birth,” “Our Rights Are Not Up For Debate” and “Liar” which featured a photo of Barrett underneath.

Protesters outfitted as characters from “The Handmaid’s Tale” are shown here demonstrating outside the home of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett in Falls Church, Va., on May 11, 2022. Photo by Douglas Blair courtesy of the Daily Signal.

Now Slate political writer Mark Joseph Stern has verbally eviscerated her in an op-ed titled Amy Coney Barrett is in Over Her Head that details why Barrett, nominated by then-president Donald Trump to replace the late justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, is not the right person for her job.

“Part of the problem is that, of all the current justices, Barrett had the least amount of preparation and training for the unique requirements of the job. She spent most of her career as a professor at Notre Dame, where her students chose her as distinguished professor of the year three times,” Stern writes. “Her academic work was often dry and technical, verging on esoteric, and she avoided committing herself to any controversial  ideas. Donald Trump appointed her to head a federal appeals court in 2017, where she served for less than three years before joining the Supreme Court. Her opinions seemed calculated to improve her chances for a SCOTUS seat. No other members of today’s court had so little experience in public service before their elevation.

But it’s not just that Barrett is completely inexperienced, Stern writes. She’s done nothing to rebuild confidence in the nation’s highest court after her October 2020 confirmation.

“Barrett has done little to dispel the fumes of partisanship and illegitimacy that poisoned her appointment. Her attempts at public relations have backfired. She inked a lucrative book deal for her memoirs before she had produced a scintilla of public thought. In September the justice declared that she and her colleagues were not “a bunch of partisan hacks” while standing next to [Mitch] McConnell at a center named after him,” Stern adds. “(She limited press access to the event.) In April, she urged Americans to “read the opinions” before concluding that the court’s work was purely results-driven.”

But the Slate writer is also not impressed with her performance when she makes oral statements and certainly didn’t explain her sentiments in overturning Roe v. Wade.

“The justice wrote nothing in Dobbs to tell us why she overruled Roe. She wrote nothing in Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta, a brutal assault on tribal sovereignty. Nothing in West Virginia v. EPA hobbling climate regulations; or Kennedy v. Bremerton allowing Christian prayer in public schools; or Carson v. Makin forcing public funding of religious education; or Vega v. Tekah undermining Miranda warnings; or the brutal habeas decisions that let states innocent people.”

I really didn’t think I’d live to see the day prayer would be allowed back in schools or the overturning of Roe v. Wade. What’s even worse about Barrett obviously not being well-suited to be a Supreme Court justice; in the short time since she was appointed to the court, she’s done terrible damage to the nation and the rights of Americans. It’s my belief that anyone stopped by police should learn their rights and I also believe it’s eminently important for women to have autonomy over their own bodies. Thanks to Roe v. Wade being overturned we no longer have that.

Amy Coney Barrett at the celebration for her swearing in. This event ended up being a super-spreader, landing Chris Christie in the hospital.

Twitter users are letting Barrett know what they think right now. It’s what she deserves.

meet the author

Megan has lived in California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida and she currently lives in Central America. Living in these places has informed her writing on politics, science, and history. She is currently owned by 15 cats and 3 dogs and regularly owns Trump supporters when she has the opportunity. She can be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/GaiaLibra and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/politicalsaurus

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