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CNN Español – Conservative judge Amy Coney Barrett, a new member of the US Supreme Court, has seven children, two of whom are adopted by Haiti. He spoke openly about his Catholic faith. He was a student at the University of Notre Dame and assistant to the late judge Antonin Scalia, whom he designated as his legal reference. Let’s review 10 facts from her life here.
Mother of seven children, two of whom are adopted from Haiti
Family is Barret’s number one priority, according to people who know her. The 48-year-old judge, born in New Orleans, Louisiana, has seven children: Emma, Vivian, Tess, John Peter, Liam, Juliet and Benjamin.
Vivian and John were adopted by Amy Coney Barrett and her husband, Jesse, from Haiti. Vivian is our miracle. Vivian joined our family, she was born in Haiti and came home when she was 14 months old and weighed 5 kilos and was so weak that we were told that perhaps she could never walk normally or speak. Today Vivian is a great athlete and I assure you she has no problem talking, “he said during the confirmation hearings for the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
The challenges of being the mother of a child with Down syndrome
Benjamin, the judge’s youngest son, has Down syndrome. “Benjamin has special needs and this presents unique challenges for all of us, but I think all there is to know about Benjamin’s place in the family comes down to the fact that the other children unreservedly identify him as their favorite sibling.” he said at that same 2017 hearing.
During confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court, she stressed that she would be the first woman with school-age children to serve in the highest court of justice in the United States.
Graduated from the University of Notre Dame
In 1994 Amy Coney Barrett graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1997 she graduated with honors in law from the Faculty of Law of the University of Notre Dame. In one of the confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court, Coney Barrett noted that she would be the only judge in office not to graduate from Yale or Harvard.
Catholic who believes “in the power of prayer”
One of the issues that has been at the center of the debate is Amy Coney Barrett’s religion and how it might influence her decisions. The judge is Catholic. “I believe in the power of prayer and it has been encouraging to hear that so many people are praying for me,” he said on the first day of the confirmation hearings in the Senate for the Supreme Court. She has been associated with a Christian group called the People of Praise, although the judge has not spoken publicly about her connection with this community.
In 2017, when Senator Dianne Feinstein asked if Barrett could separate her faith from legal decisions, she said her personal views would not affect her performance of her duties as a judge.
This Monday, after taking the oath of office as magistrate before the Court of Cassation, he also said: “I will do my job without fear or to do favors and I will do it independently, both from the political sector and from my preferences”.
Assistant Conservative Judge Antonin Scalia
Between 1998 and 1999, Coney Barrett was the legal clerk of the late Judge Antonin Scalia. During confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court, Coney Barrett said he shares the same legal philosophy that conservative-wing Scalia espoused. Scalia pioneered so-called “originality” in interpreting the US constitution “as it was written”. However, at the hearing, she also stressed that she is not the same as him. “I want to be careful and say if they confirm me, they would not have Judge Scalia, but Judge Barrett,” he said.
Teacher at Notre Dame
Between 2002 and 2017 Amy Coney Barrett worked as a professor at Notre Dame Law School. Before that, he was an adjunct professor at George Washington University School of Law. He also worked in the private area. Between 1999 and 2001 he worked at the Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin law firm in Washington.
Signing of the manifesto against Obamacare
In 2012, when he was a professor at Notre Dame, he signed a collective manifesto condemning the benefits for birth control in the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare. In that document it was described as an “assault on religious freedom”. During confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court, Barrett said he was not “hostile” to that law. “I’m not here on a mission to destroy the Affordable Care Act,” he said. “I’m just here to apply the law and adhere to the rule of law,” he said.
Judicial career promoted by Donald Trump
It is not the first time that Trump has chosen Barrett for a judicial position. In May 2017, the president appointed her to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which covers Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. Months later, on October 31, 2017, she was confirmed by the Senate for the position.
He has a gun, he plays the piano and his most sincere moment
During confirmatory hearings, the judge repeatedly refused to advance his views on matters he could speak on. However, he did provide various insights into his private life. He said, for example, that he plays the piano. And that his family has a gun. In what CNN’s Alex Rogers called “perhaps her most heartfelt moment” on the third day of hearings, Amy Coney Barrett said she drank a glass of wine the day before. “I’ll tell you I needed it at the end of the day,” he said. And Richard Blumenthal, the Democratic Senator from Connecticut, replied: “Let me say (that) on this kind of issue, you have the right to remain silent.”
Recognized the personal cost of the designation
“I don’t think it’s a secret to any of you, or the American people, that this is a really difficult process, some might say unbearable,” Barrett said when asked in the Senate how she felt about being nominated.
“Jesse and I had very little time to make a decision with far-reaching consequences for our family. We knew our lives would be checked for any negative details. We knew our faith would be caricatured. We knew our family was going to be attacked. And then we had to decide whether those difficulties would be worth it, because what sane person would have faced it if there was no advantage on the other side? “
Amy Coney Barrett said the “advantage” would be her commitment “to the rule of law and the role of the Supreme Court”.
With information from Gabriela Matute and Alex Rogers
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