How Far Right Would Amy Coney Barrett Push the Court?

FEATURING JESSICA MASON PIEKLO – Just about 1 week to the day of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, President Donald Trump announced a nominee to replace her. As expected, it was the polar opposite of what Ginsburg represented—Amy Coney Barrett—a young, staunch conservative linked to a fundamentalist Christian world-view with an anti-abortion, anti-labor, and anti-immigrant record.

GOP Senators, who howled “unfair” 4 years ago when President Obama, with ample time before the end of his term attempted to fill Antonin Scalia’s seat, now see no double standards as they push hard for Trump’s nominee to be confirmed at record speed. Senator Lindsey Graham who demanded that his words from four years ago be used against him, announced that the Senate hearings on Barrett would begin October 12th. The GOP-dominated Senate has barely accomplished anything over the past four years other than using Trump’s presidency to pack courts with right-wing judges.

Jessica Mason Pieklo is Executive Editor of Rewire News Group and co-host of their podcast Boom! Lawyered. She is a writer and adjunct law professor in Boulder, Colorado.