Trump’s Supreme Court nominee is an extreme ideologue who would 'overturn decades of progress on women’s rights'

The US president nominated Amy Coney Barrett on Saturday to fill the seat left empty by liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died at the age of 87 last week, writes Maya Oppenheim

Un grupo progresista ha comprado el nombre de dominio amyconeybarrett.com para protestar por su nominación a la Corte Suprema de EE. UU. (AP)

Donald Trump’s nomination to the US Supreme Court is an “extreme ideologue” who would overhaul decades of progress on women’s rights, campaigners warned.

The US president nominated Amy Coney Barrett on Saturday to fill the seat left empty by liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died at the age of 87 last week.

Ms Barrett, a former law professor at the University of Notre Dame, is a circuit judge on the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which is a key position in the country’s judiciary.

Charities have raised grave concerns about the Trump pick, who is an outspoken opponent of abortion rights and LGBT+ rights, to the nine-member court.

Shannon Kowalski, director of policy at the International Women's Health Coalition, which champions sexual and reproductive rights, said: “Amy Coney Barrett is an extreme ideologue that, if confirmed, will threaten decades of progress on human rights and gender justice.

“Whoever fills Justice Ginsburg’s seat will be a pivotal vote on issues of reproductive rights, health care access, and protections for marginalised groups.”

She argued that given the November presidential elections are less than 40 days away and voting has already started, appointing the next Supreme Court Justice should be the task of whoever is elected in the forthcoming election.

The International Women's Health Coalition urged the senate to reject Ms Barrett's nomination — saying she has spent her career striving to rescind Justice Ginsburg’s legacy of championing gender equality and justice.

“She has engaged with the Alliance Defending Freedom, an anti-LGBT+ hate group that advocates against LGBT+ rights and sexual and reproductive rights domestically and globally,” the organisation warns.

“Like many in the Trump administration, Barrett prioritises religious freedom at the expense of women, girls, LGBT+ people, and marginalised communities worldwide. She signed a petition arguing against the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate, declaring that it infringed on religious freedom. In a 2006 speech to Notre Dame graduates, she stated: ‘Your legal career is but a means to an end … that end is building the kingdom of God’.

“Barrett believes that life begins at conception and is a member of an extreme Christian organisation, People for Praise, that served as inspiration for Margret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale. If allowed to serve on the Supreme Court, she will carry the influence of this extreme Catholic ideology to the nation’s highest court, an ominous sign for anyone that values human rights and the separation of church and state.”

The mother-of-seven’s nomination could change the Supreme Court’s balance for decades, the International Women's Health Coalition added.

Over the weekend, Mr Trump said it “is certainly possible” Ms Barrett will be part of a supreme court decision which overturns Roe v Wade — the landmark decision that legalised abortion nationwide in 1973.

“She is certainly conservative in her views, in her rulings, and we’ll have to see how that all works out, but I think it will work out,” the world leader told Fox & Friends Weekend.

National Nurses United criticised the nomination of Ms Barrett — pleading with the Senate to respect Ginsburg’s dying wish that she is not replaced until after the imminent presidential election.

Bonnie Castillo, National Nurses United executive director, said: “This nomination, and the promise by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that the Senate would quickly rush to confirm an appointee even before the nomination was announced or any hearings have been held, violates what nurses consider to be sacred trust in honouring a patient’s dying, strongly held wishes. It’s a transparent effort to cement a judge in place before the election without the long-held practice of careful consideration of a nominee to a lifetime position on the court."

She said nurses are extremely worried by “the threat to women’s health and safety posed by Judge Barrett’s harmful record on women’s reproductive health care, as well as overall health services, especially for our most vulnerable and disadvantaged Americans”.

Ms Castillo added: “To replace a legend on women’s rights like Justice Ginsburg with a nominee like Judge Barrett, who is being nominated with the specific goal of reversing everything Justice Ginsburg devoted her life to, could not be a clearer insult to all women, and a fundamental message that their lives, and their health do not matter to this administration”.

The Indiana judge, who is a strict Catholic, is an originalist which means she thinks judges should read the words of the constitution as the authors wanted them to be interpreted when they were penned.

Alexis McGill Johnson, Planned Parenthood Action Fund president, said: “Our nation is in the midst of a pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 people in the US, an economic disaster, and a national reckoning with systemic racism. 

“To be very clear, the fact that President Trump has nominated anyone to fill Justice Ginsburg’s Supreme Court seat in this moment of national crisis is a direct threat to our health and rights and a disgrace to our democracy. Donald Trump has made it clear that he would only appoint justices who would overturn Roe v Wade, and his administration is currently asking the Supreme Court to dismantle the Affordable Care Act — we can’t afford to see this nomination succeed."

Christian F Nunes, the president of the National Organisation for Women, said: “Like all of his other appointments, Trump wants personal allies who will validate his lawlessness, enable his authoritarianism, and protect him from accountability.”