Supreme Court Nominee Amy Coney Barrett Is A Right-Wing Extremist And A Threat To Democracy by Robert Covington Jr.
The nomination process of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett will be an exercise in lies, obfuscation, subterfuge, hypocrisy and deflection. We know Barrett will begin this illegitimate and corrupt process with an opening statement thanking those that have helped shape her life. We know Barrett and the Republican Judiciary Committee members will try to frame Barrett’s projected family life in a virtuous, sacrificial and honorable way to engender sympathy, respect and to shield her against certain attacks that confronts Barrett’s anticipated insensitivity of jurisprudence when it comes to other people’s family.
We know someone will mention that she and her husband’s adoption of black Haitian children and raising a child with special needs as a way of trying to define her as compassionate, empathetic and a wonderful example of family values that Americans should be proud of. We know Barrett will be coached up to talk about her respect for precedent in the law and how her deep Catholic faith can be and will be separated from her opinions. It will be done in a soft tone with premeditated cadences and inflection points that is made for TV.
This upcoming, manufactured attempt to separate religion from a person’s views and action will try to have us believe, ignore or forget that most of the atrocities in human history have been done in the name of religion. God knows how many times Jesus Christ and Allah have been mentioned to justify slaughter, privilege or injustice.
The best way to understand Amy Coney Barrett is to bring it back to the basics of human nature and human behavior. It’s very simple, look at what she’s said, what she’s done, who she supports and who she associates with to have a very good idea of the type of woman she is and how it will impact millions of Americans with her rulings.
Amy Coney Barrett began her young career operating in one of the most partisan abuses of power in American history as a lawyer working with the Republican Party during Bush V. Gore, which ultimately ended up with the Republican majority on the Supreme Court handing George W. Bush the victory. She was attracted to corrupt intent and did her part to help get a corrupt outcome.
Amy Coney Barrett clerked for Antonin Scalia, one of the most racist, homophobic Supreme Court Justices in the last fifty years. Barrett has said that Scalia is one of her biggest influences in her judicial life and former prosecutors like Barbara McQuade wrote an op-ed article outlining how Barrett is likely to be more extreme than Scalia. When Scalia died and Obama was contemplating who he would nominate to the Supreme Court, Barrett volunteered herself to the media by openly expressing concern about the court becoming less conservative as Mitch McConnell was preparing to engage in unprecedented obstruction.
For years, Barrett was a member of the Federalist Society, an extremist organization that cultivates right-wing judges that promotes white power and corporate power under the cloak of originalist and conservative judicial line of thinking. Their strong support of her nomination speaks to the confidence that they have in her carrying out their mission at the highest level.
Given her affiliation with Scalia and the Federalist Society, it should come as no surprise that the top civil rights organization in the United States, the NAACP, has examined her record and wrote a scathing letter of alarm by saying Barrett poses a grave threat to civil and human rights. Nathan Robinson from Current Affairs wrote an excellent piece highlighting Barrett’s dangerous and insensitive judicial thinking on immigration and criminal justice. Also, Vox’s Katelyn Burns has written about Barrett and the likelihood of her not being a friend on LGBT rights.
Amy Coney Barrett’s position, views and opinion on stare decisis, a legal term for respecting precedent appears to be a cause of concern. Barrett’s reported views on two landmark decisions related to the Affordable Care Act and Roe V. Wade appears to put those decisions in serious jeopardy. With Barrett, millions of Americans are likely to lose healthcare during a pandemic and women around the country would be criminalized for wanting the right to choose what happens with their body.
Her anti-abortion and Affordable Care Act views, we can assume, are rooted in her convictions of ‘it sucks being you’. But of course, a woman like this understands her anti-abortion views are not in line with much of the country, so what does she do, she purposely chose not to initially disclose to the Senate her speech to an anti-abortion student group or that she signed off on a right to life advertisement that called the Roe V. Wade decision, ‘barbaric’. I wonder why?
There have been reports of Barrett’s lifelong association with a Christian group called the Handmaids of Praise, which reportedly teaches and supports the idea of male hierarchy and gender roles. Make of that what you will.
Amy Coney Barrett’s life, views and associations are the best way to understanding what kind of Supreme Court Justice she will be. And based on what we’ve seen, Barrett is just as callous, cold hearted and an enemy to a healthy, multiracial democracy — just like her soon to be Republican Justices. Barrett appears to be as racist, heartless and beyond shame for having views that detrimentally impacts millions of Americans from healthcare to worker’s rights. What she appears to value seems to be in line with some of the worst human beings in power that are within the Republican Party.
Amy Coney Barrett is an unapologetic right-wing extremist and a serious threat to democracy. This dangerous woman should not be on the Supreme Court. And much to the dismay of Amy Coney Barrett, a loving, kind, merciful God would agree.
Follow me on twitter: @robcovingtonjr
