Amy Coney Barrett (28 January 1972-) was Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from 2 November 2017 to 27 October 2020 (succeeding John Daniel Tinder) and an Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court from 27 October 2020 (succeeding Ruth Bader Ginsburg).
Biography[]
Amy Vivian Coney was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on 28 January 1972, and she was raised a devout Catholic. She graduated first in her class from Notre Dame Law School in 1997 and clerked for US Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, who became her mentor. She inherited Scalia's textualist and originalist views, and, despite concerns by US Senator Dianne Feinstein and other Democrats that Coney Barrett's religious dogma would cloud her judgment on legal matters (she was a member of a Catholic fundamentalist group), she was appointed a Court of Appeals judge by Donald Trump. In September 2020, Trump considered her as a possible replacement for the late US Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. On 25 September, Trump announced Coney Barrett as his pick to fill the vacancy. The US Senate voted 52-48 to confirm her nomination on 26 October, wrapping up a highly controversial and divisive nomination process. Criticism was levelled at Coney Barrett for having only 2 years of experience in private practice, never having tried a case, never having argued an appeal, never having argued before the Supreme Court, rarely having had to deal with criminal cases (instead specializing in civil cases), having 15 years of teaching experience (rather than legal experience), and never having served as a judge until 2017.