Local officials weigh in on nomination of Judge Barrett
NEW HAVEN — President Donald Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett, considered a staunch conservative in the vein of Justice Antonin Scalia, to the Supreme Court Saturday afternoon, prompting reactions from Connecticut residents and officials.
Barrett sits on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. She formerly clerked for Scalia and described her judicial philosophy as similar Saturday. In a statement, the White House press office said she has “demonstrated a steadfast dedication to upholding the Constitution as written, and not legislating from the bench.”
Trump called Barrett a “woman of unparalleled achievement” as he announced her nomination, according to the Associated Press, describing her as one of the nation’s “brilliant and gifted legal minds” and “very eminently qualified for the job.”
Bill Dunlap, professor of law at Quinnipiac University, said Barrett was both “extremely qualified” for the job and “very conservative.” She would have been within the realm of possibility as a choice for any Republican president, not just Trump, he said.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, both Democrats, expressed opposition to Barrett’s nomination in separate statements Friday.
Blumenthal said the nomination was proffered as part of an “illegitimate sham process, barely one month before an election as Americans are already casting their votes,” and described Barrett’s views as “extreme,” saying she had already been “vetted and screened to meet two tests: a commitment to striking down the Affordable Care Act and to overturning Roe v. Wade.”
“Judge Barrett has criticized past decisions protecting access to health care, shown hostility to reproductive freedoms, and expressed a willingness to overturn settled Supreme Court precedent that does not align with her extreme views. If Judge Barrett’s views become law, hundreds of millions of Americans
Judge Amy Coney Barrett speaks after being nominated to the Supreme Court by President Trump on Saturday evening at the White House.
living with preexisting conditions would lose access to their health care. In the middle of a global pandemic that has claimed more than 200,000 American lives, rushing confirmation of an extreme jurist who will decimate health care is unconscionable,” said Blumenthal. “I refuse to treat this process as legitimate and will not meet with Judge Barrett.”
Murphy also framed Barrett’s nomination through her possible impact on the Affordable Care Act, as well as health care more generally during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“If Trump puts Amy Coney Barrett, his handpicked nominee, on the court, millions of people I represent in Connecticut will be kicked off their health care plans, in the middle of a global pandemic. This is the catastrophe that will be coming if Coney Barrett, who is being chosen specifically because she will vote to invalidate the entire
Affordable Care Act, is confirmed,” said Murphy. “The Republicans have been on a decades-long crusade to dismantle the Affordable Care Act — sending us back to the days when insurance companies could deny you coverage for having a preexisting condition. Now, a case is pending that will take away health care for millions, and Senate Republicans are predictably reneging on their pledge from four years ago of not appointing a Supreme Court justice during an election year, in order to rush Coney Barrett onto the court in time to end health care for millions.”
Dunlap noted that many Americans have begun to consider the Supreme Court as more of a third political branch, rather than the representative of an independent judiciary.
“In the long run, what’s been going on over the last few years will be very, very bad for the court and its reputation among the American public,” said Dunlap.