The Case for Amy Coney Barrett

Last week, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court, died at age 87 of pancreatic cancer. High on President Trump’s list of Supreme Court candidates, and often mentioned as a likely candidate to replace Justice Ginsburg, is Appellate Court Judge Amy Coney Barrett. President Trump would be well served to nominate Barrett. Yet even though Barrett is highly qualified, certain Democratic politicians and power-brokers will launch a scorched-earth campaign against her candidacy. At the center of this campaign will be insinuations about Barrett’s Catholic faith. Americans got a peek at this strategy two years ago during confirmation hearings for Barrett’s appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

“The dogma lives loudly within you, and that’s of concern,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif) said during the September 2017 hearing, questioning whether Barrett could be simultaneously a faithful Catholic and responsible justice. The New York Times followed Feinstein’s remarks with an article suggesting Barrett’s faith might need even more questioning, given her involvement in a parachurch organization called People of Praise. Democratic Senate candidate Richard Painter tweeted a link to the article and commented that People of Praise looks like a cult. 

To read the rest of the article, originally published at First Things Magazine, click here.