It is official: Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed by the Senate 52-48 to be the next Supreme Court justice, replacing the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Barrett is a graduate of Notre Dame Law School, where she graduated at the top of her class and where she has also taught law as a professor there. She clerked for the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Her nomination has received criticism due to her experience being largely in academics and lack of experience in actual practice though.
She is expected to put the high court further into conservative territory. As a devout Catholic, Barrett will join the Catholic supermajority now on the court, as six out of the nine justices are Catholic and another, Neil M. Gorsuch, was raised Catholic, but is now Protestant.
Although born in Louisiana, Barrett will be the second Hoosier to be on the high court, as she has lived and worked in the Hoosier state for the past several years. Brett Kavanaugh was the first Hoosier on the current court’s members, who was also nominated by President Trump. Given Barrett is Trump’s third nominee to get confirmed, that has drawn criticism, too, since the past few Presidents have only been able to successfully nominate only two each. She will now likely be a part of the court in deciding several large, pending cases, including ones concerning voting, the Affordable Care Act, copyright protection, and more.
Featured photo: Seal of the Supreme Court, Public Domain