Christian and social conservative leaders are applauding President Trump’s selection of Amy Coney Barrett for the Supreme Court vacancy, calling her highly qualified and saying she could swing the court in a direction more favorable to their causes.
Barrett, currently a justice for the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, would replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg and become Trump’s third justice appointed to the high court. It would be the most Supreme Court justices appointed by a single president since Richard Nixon. She formerly was a law professor at the University of Notre Dame.
Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, noted that Barrett clerked for the late Justice Antonin Scalia – a legal hero to the Right – and made legal arguments at Notre Dame “that conservatives have been looking for and listening” for, for decades. “Conservative Christians need to understand this: We are looking at a game-changer,” Mohler said. “ This is not just another conservative appointment to the Supreme Court.”
Michael Farris, president and CEO of Alliance Defending Freedom, applauded the selection of Barrett and criticized those who have attacked her for her faith. “Unfortunately, critics have wasted little time in criticizing her Catholic faith and suggesting that her convictions disqualify her from public service. If that bigotry becomes part of the confirmation process, it will violate the Constitution.”
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said Trump had followed through on his promise and selected a nominee who has a proven, originalist track record. “Thanks to President Trump, we now have the opportunity after many decades to finally return lawmaking back to the legislatures that are elected by the people,”
“Senate Democrat Dianne Feinstein once infamously told Judge Barrett that the ‘dogma lives loudly within you’ – more than insinuating that it is somehow impossible to serve both God and country,” Perkins said. “Implying Barrett’s religious beliefs somehow disqualifies her for the job is a violation of Article VI of the Constitution.”
Dr. Richard Land, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary, added, “If people voluntarily choose in their private lives to follow scripture and to live a devoted life, that should not in any way, shape, or form be a disqualification from service in the federal judiciary or anywhere else in the federal government.”
Land argues that every person of faith in America should be extremely concerned about liberal Democrats and their media cohorts trying to make serious, devout Christian faith a disqualification from service in the courts.
The confirmation hearings for Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, are set to begin October 12.