Amy Coney Barrett: Analysis of the election of conservative justice to the US Supreme Court – US and Canada – International

The president of United States, Donald Trump, won a major victory this Monday with the awaited confirmation of his candidate for the Supreme Court, consolidating the conservative majority in the high court and boost his re-election campaign eight days before the election.

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Despite opposition from the Democrats, who denounced a trial “illegitimate” so close to the elections, the republican senators, the majority in the upper house, all approved, with one exception, the entry of Amy Coney Barrett, a fervent Catholic against abortion, at the highest court of justice in the country.

How is the distribution of judges?

The Supreme Court, arbiter of the thorniest issues of American society, will thus have six conservative judges out of nine, three of whom are appointed by the Republican president.

“This is an important day for the United States, for the American Constitution and for a just and impartial rule of law.”the president said shortly after while taking the magistrate’s oath in the White House garden.

The issues that the Supreme Court must define

Democrats warn Barrett could vote to dismantle Obamacare, a health reform that has helped millions of Americans obtain health insurance and could help overturn the Roe v. Wade of 1973 authorizing abortion rights.

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But Barrett said he will keep his personal beliefs separate from his job. “I will do my job without fear or favor (…) And I will do it regardless of political powers and my preferences”he has declared.

The magistrate could attend his first hearing starting November 2, the eve of the presidential elections. Therefore, theoretically it will act in case of examination of any appeals against the results of the vote.

Consolidating a strategy that involved appointing more than 200 conservative judges from across the federal judicial system during his tenure, Barrett’s appointment to Trump’s pardon with voters of the religious right in the final attempt to regain ground from their Democratic rival Joe Biden.

Why is there talk of a long-term conservative court?

But regardless of the November 3 outcome, his legacy will be lasting because those positions are for life and Trump has generally chosen young judges.

Barrett is 48 years old. “It will stay there for a long time”The president had said this before his appointment in front of a crowd in Lititz, at one of three rallies scheduled this Monday in Pennsylvania, a key state for the elections.

Barret attended a Catholic high school, pursued a student career at a Presbyterian church institution in Tennessee, and eventually graduated from Notre Dame University in Indiana.

This judge is a practicing Catholic who opposes abortion out of personal conviction, “Life begins with conception”Barrett said in an article published in 2013, the BBC reported.

For positions like this, it is believed that the judge’s confirmation could give impetus to the conservative religious electorate that Trump relied heavily on four years ago.

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According to British media, Barret has been repeatedly chosen as teacher of the year at the University of Notre Dame. In fact, says the BBC, her teacher Paolo Carozza describes her as a person “normal, warm” and “friendly”.

Democratic criticism and republican praise

Confirmation in the middle of an election “It should be a stark reminder to all Americans that your vote matters.”Biden said in a statement. During the debate in the Senate before the vote, the leader of the Democratic minority, Chuck Schumer, denounced the “hypocrisy” of the Republicans and claimed that the judge was chosen not for his credentials, but for his “right-wing” beliefs radical”.

But on the Republican side, it was all flattery. Powerful Senator Lindsey Graham celebrated one day “historical” and the head of the bench, Mitch McConnell, praised the Barrett’s “brilliant” credentials.

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Shortly after the vote, the young Democratic deputy Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez He tweeted his support for an idea circulating on the far left: increasing the number of Supreme Court justices to counterbalance the influence of Trump-appointed judges.

Biden, while not a fan of the idea, doesn’t rule it out entirely. If elected, he plans to create a bipartisan commission to reform the Supreme Court.

A victory for Trump?

For Trump, the triumph of the nomination is, however, clouded by a worsening of the health crisis in the country, which continues to affect his re-election campaign.

Biden continues to accuse the Republican president of giving up a virus that killed more than 225,000 Americans and infected more than 8.6 million, of which almost 90,000 on Saturday, a record.

“Donald Trump is the worst possible president to lead the country during a pandemic”he said Monday on a surprise visit to Chester, Pennsylvania. During his Pennsylvania tour, Trump denied having capitulated to the virus.

“We are definitely moving on”, he assured reporters. On Sunday, statements by the White House chief of staff reinforced the image of a government powerless in the face of the virus.

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“We will not control the pandemic. We will control whether we receive vaccines, treatments and other mitigations.”Mark Meadows said on CNN.

These comments received a wake-up call from the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who warned that it was “dangerous” to abandon the strategy of trying to eradicate the virus.

AFP