Staff Editorial
President Donald J. Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, was confirmed on Oct. 26, just eight days before the presidential election. Barrett’s appointment means that there is now a 6-3 conservative majority in America’s highest court and students need to understand how this may affect them. Particularly at risk now are student health insurance benefits and the right to an abortion.
When Trump was given his pick of the new Supreme Court Justice, he was eager to select Barrett because, as the BBC noted, “Judge Barrett’s record on gun rights and immigration cases imply she would be as reliable a vote on the right of the court, as Ginsburg was on the left.”
According to Biography.com, Barrett has clerked for Judge Laurence Silberman of the United States Court of Appeals and conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. She also worked as a lawyer at the firm Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin in Washington, D.C., then went on to teach as a professor at her Alma Mater, Notre Dame.
In more than one instance, Barrett has referenced her conservative views.
The Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, is something Barrett has disapproved of in the past. According to The New Yorker, “in a law article from 2017, Barret wrote, ‘Chief Justice Roberts pushed the Affordable Care Act beyond its plausible meaning to save the statute.’”
Beyond supporting millions of Americans with access to healthcare, ACA, according to HHS.gov, allows parents to keep their children on their health insurance policies until the child turns 26 years old. If ACA is repealed, young adults will no longer be supported by their parent’s healthcare nor be able to afford independent health care if not provided by an employer. As for women, free preventative health screenings, birth control, and breastfeeding support could also disappear if ACA is abolished, according to Cnet.com.
Liberals view Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 case that determined women should have the right to an abortion, as being vulnerable to a repeal now that the Supreme Court is strongly conservative. The case was revisited in March and Barrett’s history points to the possibility of the law being overturned if she is given the chance to vote against it.
According to The Atlantic, while attending Norte Dame, Barrett joined “an anti-abortion-rights faculty group.” Despite her claim that, “My personal views don’t have anything to do with the way I would decide cases,” many liberals fear that Roe vs. Wade will be overturned and women will no longer have access to safe abortions, leading to illegal and life-threatening procedures being done clandestinely.
While it is too early to predict the outcome of these cases, the potential effect of overturning both affordable health care insurance and abortion rights is worrying for millions of Americans. Being only 48 years-old, Barrett could remain on the Supreme Court for 40 years, which is the majority of the rest of our lives. Unfortunately, all we can do is hope that Barrett, and the rest of the Supreme Court, holds the rights of the people – to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness – in the highest consideration when approaching each case.
