Who is Amy Coney Barrett, the judge Trump has considered for a Supreme Court seat

Amy Coney Barrett has served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit since 2017.
She was previously considered by President Trump to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court left by Justice Anthony Kennedy and filled eventually by Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Barrett clerked for the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the US Supreme Court.
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Amy Coney Barrett is considered to be a frontrunner for a Supreme Court vacancy under a Republican administration and President Donald Trump reportedly cited her specifically to confidants as a leading contender for the seat held by Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg in the event of a vacancy.

Justice Ginsberg died September 18 at age 87 due to complications from cancer.

Alma mater

BA Rhodes College '94, JD University of Notre Dame Law School '97

Clerked for

Judge Laurence Silberman of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia of the US Supreme Court

Past positions

Associate at law firm Miller, Cassidy, Larocca, and Lewin in Washington, DC
Professor at Notre Dame Law School, where she teaches constitutional law, federal courts, and statutory interpretation beginning in 2002

Current court

Appointed by President Trump to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 2017.

Consideration for Kennedy Supreme Court seat

Barrett had been under consideration by the president to fill the seat opened by the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, which was later filled by Brett Kavanaugh. In July 2019, Jonathan Swan and Sam Baker at Axios reported that President Trump had told several people "I'm saving her for Ginsburg," implying that in the event of a vacancy she would be an immediate contender.

For the Kennedy seat, it was judged that Barrett's positions on abortion would make it difficult for a number of key Republican senators, specifically Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, to support her.

Rulings and writings on abortion

A devout Catholic, Barrett has been on the bench for a short time, but she's written extensively on abortion. In a 1998 law review article, she and a co-author argued Catholic judges should be allowed to recuse themselves from cases involving abortion or the death penalty. Barrett has also said she believes it highly unlikely for the landmark case Roe v. Wade to be overturned, but doesn't see it as a "super-precedent" case, like Marbury v. Madison, that no court would overturn. She advocated in a 2003 article for a more "flexible" application of stare decisis, or the principle of respecting precedent in court cases. Those writings combined with her personal belief that life begins at conception have some critics concerned about what her presence on the court could mean for future abortion rights cases.

Sources: Federal Judicial Center, Chicago Sun Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Notre Dame Law School, Kresge Law Library

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