Trump nominates Barrett to Supreme Court

Trump nominates Barrett to Supreme Court

[NFA] President Donald Trump on Saturday nominated Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, and she pledged to become a justice in the mold of the late staunch conservative Antonin Scalia - another milestone in Trump's rightward shift of the top U.S. judicial body.

Colette Luke has the latest.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday announced conservative appellate judge Amy Coney Barrett as his third U.S. Supreme Court NOMINEE following the death of Justice and feminist icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

48-year-old Barrett, who serves on the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, appeared at a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden where most of the people in the tightly packed crowd were not wearing masks.

Her lawyer husband and her seven children, two of whom were adopted from Haiti, joined her at the ceremony.

(President Trump saying) : "If confirmed, Justice Barrett will make history as the first mother of school aged children ever to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court." During her remarks, Barrett praised Ginsburg, saying the late justice was a quote “woman of enormous talent and consequence." And she pledged to be a justice along the lines of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, a staunch conservative who was friends with Ginsburg and who Barrett once served as a clerk for.

"His judicial philosophy is mine too: a judge must apply the law as written.

Judges are not policy makers and they must be resolute in setting aside policy views they might hold." A devout Roman Catholic and a Notre Dame Law School graduate, Barrett is a favorite among religious conservatives, who are a key Trump voter bloc, while liberals voiced concern.

Abortion rights advocates fear she could help overturn the landmark Roe versus Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide, and they vowed to protest her nomination.

Her appointment comes as the Republican-led Senate scramble to confirm her before Election Day on November 3rd but Democrats including presidential nominee Joe Biden who issues a statement after her nomination say the Senate should not act until after the next president is chosen.

"And I will do my very best to demonstrate that I am worthy of your support." If confirmed, Barrett would become the fifth woman ever to serve on the Supreme Court.

She’d also be Trump’s third Supreme Court appointment and her confirmation would push its conservative majority to a commanding 6-3, potentially shifting the United States to the right on hot-button issues including curbing abortion rights and striking down gun control laws.

With Trump's fellow Republicans controlling the Senate, confirmation appears certain, though Democrats may try to make the process as difficult as possible.