President Trump is about to officially tap his pick for the next Supreme Court justice to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg … and he’s expected to unveil his top choice — Amy Coney Barrett. TMZ will be live streaming the White House event.
The Prez will reportedly nominate the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals judge Saturday, just over a week after RBG passed away from cancer. Barrett, a Trump appointee to the Circuit Court, was a Notre Dame law professor.
Barrett is a die-hard conservative justice, who is a deeply religious, practicing Catholic. She’s opposed to abortion, but has said she thinks Roe vs. Wade is more likely to be reimagined than overruled. In common parlance, reimagined means whittling away at the precedent.
If she’s confirmed by the Senate — which is highly likely — the Supreme Court will have a solid 6-3 majority. The stakes are enormous, with abortion rights, health care, LGBTQ rights and voting rights on the chopping block.
Barrett has long been considered for a Supreme Court seat with Trump in office … she was on the shortlist to replace Anthony Kennedy when he retired in 2018, a seat that is now occupied by Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
It’s interesting … when Trump filled Kennedy’s seat, he reportedly informed advisors he was “saving” Barrett just in case RBG left SCOTUS during his presidency.
Barrett, a mother of 7 … graduated from Notre Dame School of Law. She was in private practice before becoming a law professor at George Washington University and then Notre Dame.
She clerked for the late Justice Antonin Scalia — RBG’s close friend and ideological rival.
Barrett has been serving on the Chicago-based 7th Circuit Court of Appeals since 2017. She’s ruled on a pair of abortion-related cases, both times in favor of restrictions on access to abortion.
One key issue she’s made herself perfectly clear on is the Affordable Care Act, arguing the birth control mandate is unconstitutional and the ACA overall is an overreach and abuse of Congressional power.
The ACA will go before the court the week after the election.
