The court will move even further to the right with her, explains correspondent Erik Mouthaan. Democrats are upset about the nomination.
1. Who is that woman?
Amy Coney Barrett, 48, is one of the judges at the Federal Court of Appeals in the Chicago area. She was appointed by Trump in that place. Previously, she was a professor of law at Notre Dame Catholic University in the state of Indiana. Her Catholicism is very important to her, she and her husband have seven children. Her candidacy has been driven by conservative religious groups.
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2. What changes with her at court?
She replaces the very leftist Ruth Bader Ginsburg who died last week, and may undo some of Ginsburg’s work. With the new judge added, the conservative majority at court increases to such an extent that even the chairman can no longer play a moderating role in the verdicts, as he did until this year.
It is expected that protections around abortion will be partly reversed in the near future, but also that the Obamacare care act may be reversed.
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3. Why is that court so political?
The US parliament does not agree on many things, and then the court takes it upon itself to rule on them. For example, there is no law in the US that allows same-sex marriage. Yet such a marriage is possible, because the Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that civil marriage should also be available to people of the same sex.
Also when it comes to matters such as dismissal law, positive discrimination and immigration, the court often has the final say.
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4. Why does Trump keep choosing very right-wing people? Is Trump that conservative?
No not really. The president was still a Democrat in the 1990s and an advocate of abortion. But he was able to become president thanks to the support of deeply religious voters.
They may not have liked the president’s language or the fact that he is in the middle of his third marriage, but they are impressed by the hundreds of evangelical judges he and the Senate have been appointed. Jurisprudence in the US has become much more right-wing in recent years.
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5. Elections are coming up. Doesn’t that change everything?
No. A member of the Supreme Court is appointed for life. The deceased judge was there for 27 years. So when a president puts forward a candidate, he knows it’s one of the most important things he can do. Such a judge affects the lives of Americans long after the president’s retirement.
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6. Are the Democrats cranky now?
Sure. They want to stop this candidate because the nomination comes just before the elections. And they point to what Republicans did in 2016 when they refused to vote on a nomination before the court, because it would not be appropriate to do so at election time.
Republicans now suddenly no longer have such objections. Hypocritical, say leftists. They are considering adding extra seats to the court if necessary, in order to restore ‘the balance’ in their eyes. But for that, the Democrats have to win big in the elections in November.
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