Trump Nominates Amy Coney Barrett to Supreme Court, Religious Conservative to Replace Liberal Icon Ginsburg

On September 26, 2020—just eight days after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death—President Donald Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett, a religious conservative from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, to fill Ginsburg’s seat on the Supreme Court. Barrett’s judicial record showed consistent opposition to abortion rights and the Affordable Care Act, making her nomination a stark ideological replacement of the liberal feminist icon Ginsburg with a conservative judge whose confirmation would create a 6-3 conservative supermajority. The nomination came 38 days before the November 3 election with early voting already underway across the country, yet Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed to rush through the confirmation—abandoning the “let voters decide” principle he had invoked to block Merrick Garland 293 days before the 2016 election.

Barrett’s Conservative Record and Religious Affiliation

Amy Coney Barrett, 48 years old at the time of nomination, was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, having been appointed by Trump in 2017. Her judicial record revealed consistent conservative positions, particularly on abortion rights and healthcare. Barrett had criticized Roe v. Wade and signaled openness to overturning the landmark decision protecting abortion rights. She had also ruled against the Affordable Care Act in previous cases, raising concerns that her confirmation could lead to the law being struck down—particularly relevant given the Supreme Court was scheduled to hear another ACA challenge the week after the election. Barrett was also a member of People of Praise, a charismatic Christian religious group, which raised questions during her confirmation hearings about how her religious views might influence her judicial decisions, particularly on issues like abortion and LGBTQ rights.

The Nomination Timeline: 38 Days Before Election

Trump’s September 26 nomination came just 38 days before the November 3, 2020 presidential election, with millions of Americans already casting early ballots. The rushed timeline stood in glaring contrast to McConnell’s 2016 blockade of Merrick Garland, when McConnell insisted that a vacancy occurring 293 days before an election should be filled by the next president to give “voters a voice.” Now, with voting literally underway, McConnell declared: “The Senate is doing the right thing. We’re moving this nomination forward.” The hypocrisy was not subtle—Republicans were rushing to confirm Barrett before the election specifically because they feared losing power, wanting to lock in a conservative Court majority regardless of the election outcome.

The Rose Garden Superspreader Event

The September 26 Rose Garden ceremony announcing Barrett’s nomination became infamous for reasons beyond the judicial appointment—it turned into a COVID-19 superspreader event during the height of the pandemic. More than 150 attendees packed together without masks for both the outdoor ceremony and crowded indoor receptions, creating conditions that epidemiologists had warned would facilitate viral transmission. At least eleven people who attended subsequently tested positive for COVID-19, including President Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Senators Mike Lee and Thom Tillis, Kellyanne Conway, Chris Christie, and others. Dr. Anthony Fauci would later explicitly call it a “superspreader event,” stating “the data speak for themselves.” The ceremony epitomized the Trump administration’s contempt for public health precautions even at the highest levels of government, even after more than 200,000 Americans had died from COVID-19.

Significance

Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett on September 26, 2020—just 38 days before the presidential election and with early voting underway—represented the culmination of a multi-year Republican strategy to capture the Supreme Court through norm-breaking and hypocrisy. Replacing Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a pioneering liberal feminist icon, with Barrett, a religious conservative opposed to abortion rights, would create the 6-3 conservative supermajority that Republicans had worked for decades to achieve. The rushed confirmation process—occurring in weeks when Garland had been blocked for 293 days—revealed that Republican rhetoric about “letting voters decide” was always a pretext for partisan power. Barrett’s confirmation would enable the Court to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, grant sweeping presidential immunity in 2024, eliminate Chevron deference, and systematically dismantle progressive precedents. That the nomination ceremony became a COVID superspreader event, infecting the President and numerous senior officials, underscored how thoroughly public health, constitutional norms, and democratic legitimacy had been subordinated to the pursuit of ideological control over the judiciary.