The conservative Supreme Court justice Trump can't rely on

Amy Coney Barrett shows signs of independence that could constrain the new administration

(White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)

On September 26, 2020, then-President Donald Trump walked out to the Rose Garden to announce his choice to replace Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who had died eight days earlier.

Accompanying him was Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a former Notre Dame law professor whom Trump had appointed to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in 2017.

Introducing his nominee before an invited audience, Trump noted Barrett’s commitment to interpreting the Constitution “as written”, in the tradition of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, for whom she had clerked.

“As Amy has said, ‘Being a judge takes courage. You are not there to decide cases as you may prefer. You are there to do your duty and to follow the law wherever it may take you.’ That is exactly why Judge Barrett will be on the Supreme Court.”

That could also be why Justice Barrett may prove to be a problem for Trump.

Last week, Barrett was the only one of the three Trump appointees to vote against an urgent…