Amy Coney Barrett steers the Supreme Court to the right, but not toward President Trump – By Richard Wolf (USA Today) / Dec 26 2020
WASHINGTON – To hear Democrats tell it, President Donald Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court this fall in order to destroy the Affordable Care Act and prevail in any lawsuits over a disputed election.
Two months into Barrett’s tenure, those fears look to be unfounded. But conservatives remain hopeful she will advance the cause of religious freedom, expand Second Amendment rights and cement a conservative majority on the nation’s highest court.
They have reason to be confident. As successor to the late liberal Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Barrett made the difference last month in a 5-4 ruling that blocked strict COVID-19 limits on religious gatherings in New York. That ruling set a precedent the court since has applied in California, New Jersey and Colorado.
© Carolyn Kaster, AP President Donald Trump applauds Amy Coney Barrett as they stand on the Blue Room Balcony after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas administered her the Constitutional Oath on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Oct. 26, 2020.
But the 48-year-old former federal appeals court judge and law school professor has kept a low profile since joining the court a week before Election Day, leaving few clues to what kind of associate justice she will be in the decades to come.
