On the evening of October 26, local time, the U.S. Senate voted 52 to 48 to confirm that Amy Coney Barrett became the Justice of the Federal Supreme Court to fill the left behind after the death of liberal Justice Ginsberg. vacancy. As the fifth female justice in the history of the United States, the arrival of Barrett is expected to further reshape the structure of the Federal Supreme Court, allowing the court to be dominated by conservatives for a longer period of time, which may affect the judgment of the next few decades. In the long run, if the Supreme Court’s position is severely unbalanced, it may face more disputes over its rulings, further tearing apart the already “polarized” American society.
Republicans push for “quick confirmation”
The Senate confirmed Barrett’s nomination with a 52-48 vote on the evening of October 26. She will become the 115th Supreme Court justice, the fifth female justice and the youngest justice in the history of the United States. In this way, the Supreme Court will be composed of six conservatives and three liberal justices, and conservatives are expected to dominate the Supreme Court for a long time.
All Democrats in the Senate voted against Barrett’s confirmation, and Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, also voted against, believing that it would be inappropriate to rush to confirm the candidate for the justices so close to the November 3 election day. . But in the face of the majority party status of the Republican Party, they could not stop the appointment.
The Republican-controlled Senate voted 51 to 48 on the afternoon of the 25th to restrict debate on the nomination, paving the way for the final vote on the evening of the 26th. As the Republicans in the Senate occupied a 53-47 majority, and there was no sign that more than three Republicans would “reverse”, it was determined at that time that Barrett would successfully win the majority left after Ginsberg’s death. The tenure of judges.
According to Bloomberg’s analysis, only 38 days after the death of Ginsberg, regarded as an icon of American progressive women and a pioneer in fighting for women’s legal rights and a leading liberal figure, US President Trump and his Republican allies in the Senate promoted the Barrett’s “quick confirmation” hopes that she can be put in place quickly to avoid that once this year’s election results depend on the Supreme Court’s ruling as it did in 2000, the court will fall into a deadlock.
Of course, this is also a good opportunity for Trump and Republicans to make the Supreme Court as a whole “rightward” before the election. Jonathan Trey, a professor of law at George Washington University, believes that Judge Barrett’s records on gun rights and immigration cases will determine how left Ginsberg has voted in the past. How right.
Barrett, 48, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. He previously served as a judge on the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He currently lives with her husband Jesse in South Bend, Annan, Indonesia. Her husband was previously a federal prosecutor and currently works for a private company. The couple have 7 children, two of whom are adopted from Haiti.
Barrett served as an assistant to the late Justice Scalia. She once commented on Scalia as the “most determined conservative” in the Supreme Court at the time. Like her spiritual teacher Scalia, Barrett is also a fundamentalist in the concept of law. Fundamentalism believes that when judges interpret the words and sentences in the constitution, they need to start with the original intention of the original authors when they created the constitution. Many liberals oppose this strict approach, and they emphasize the importance of keeping up with the times.
However, during the Senate hearing, Barrett tried to downplay the perception that she has party or personal views. She said: “The judge must be in the form in which the law is written, not in the form the judge wants the law to be written. Law.” She also stated that “policy decisions and values judgments” should be made by elected politicians, not judges of the Supreme Court. But few Democrats believe that she will deviate from her usual conservative stance while working on the Supreme Court.
△Bloomberg reported that the Senate confirmed Barrett as Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
The most controversial nomination
Kingsberg passed away in September this year, and Trump immediately announced that he would name a new justice to replace her vacancy before the November general election. Democrats criticized that the vacancy for Kingsberg should be filled by a new president after the election. Nominations are filled. In this case, Barrett’s “quick confirmation” is extremely controversial and full of party and party color.
Former President Barack Obama faced a similar situation in 2016: The conservative Justice Scalia died in February of that year, less than a year after the election. At that time, he tried to nominate then Chief Justice Garland of the District of Columbia Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. Scalia’s vacancy was criticized by Republicans on the grounds that the vacancy should be filled by the new president.
At that time, the Senate was controlled by the Republican Party. Majority Leader McConnell refused to hold a hearing for Garland’s nomination, accusing Obama of not nominating the justices in the presidential election year. The Senate ultimately did not deal with Garland’s nomination. After Trump was elected president, Gorsuch nominated Gorsuch to fill the vacancy of Scalia, who took office in April 2017.
△ “Politician” polls show that only 37% of people believe that Trump should appoint justices before the election
Trump’s calculation
Barrett graduated from the University of Notre Dame Law School and was an assistant to the late conservative Supreme Court Justice Scalia. After Ginsberg’s death, she was the only candidate for Trump’s “interview”, and Trump had high hopes.
Analysis believes that Trump’s choice to nominate Barrett may bring a series of political benefits: First, Ginsberg is regarded as the “icon” of American progressive women, and now Trump nominates a female justice, even if two People have different positions, but they still make sense to some voters. Secondly, Barrett holds a conservative position on a series of issues such as abortion, medical insurance, gun control, and immigration, and is welcomed by conservatives and religious rightists in American society. Stabilize the fundamentals of the Republican Party; in addition, Barrett is a devout Catholic, and Catholics are an important group of voters in key swing states such as Pennsylvania. Nominating her may help Trump win more support.
