Barrett and Lagoa: Their judicial philosophies
And then there were two, said James Hohmann in The Washington Post. President Trump said this week he is considering five women for his nominee to fill Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Supreme Court seat, but White House insiders say there are two real finalists: federal appeals court Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a social conservative, and federal appeals court Judge Barbara Lagoa of Florida, the daughter of refugees from Fidel Castro’s Cuba. Barrett, 48, is considered the frontrunner. She’s the favorite of Mitch McConnell and many other Senate Republicans, who see her as a sure vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. But Trump and some advisers are intrigued by Lagoa, 52, because they think her Cuban heritage and Florida roots may boost his chances of winning that critical swing state. In her 14 years as a state and federal judge, Lagoa has often sided with businesses, employers, and Republican officials, and is described by supporters as “very pro-life.”
Barrett would be “a home run” for conservative Christians opposed to abortion, said Elizabeth Dias and Adam Liptak in The New York Times. She was the late conservative icon Antonin Scalia’s favorite young clerk, attended and taught at the University of Notre Dame, and is such a devout Catholic that Sen. Dianne Feinstein famously noted, “The dogma lives loudly within you.” Barrett and her husband belong to a “relatively obscure” charismatic Catholic group called People of Praise, which believes in divine healing, prophecy, and speaking in tongues. Yes, but her rulings seem to lack Christian charity, said Mark Joseph Stern in Slate.com. She’s ruled that older job applicants can’t sue prospective employers for age discrimination, and refused to halt the deportation of an asylum petitioner who credibly feared torture from gangs in El Salvador. If she’s confirmed, she’ll join a far-right court faction that will strike down Roe, the Affordable Care Act, and environmental and business regulations.
Liberals will “demonize” Barrett, said Sohrab Ahmari in NYPost.com. She’s interprets laws and the Constitution as they’re written, and her “prolife bona fides” are unwavering and manifest in her own life. She has seven kids, including one biological child with intellectual disabilities and another two who were adopted from Haiti. Barrett presents “an inspiring vision of what it means to be an American woman in 2020,” and would be “a most worthy successor to RBG.”