Justice Amy Coney Barrett defended the Supreme Court on Sunday and expressed concerns that the public may be seeing the nation’s highest court as a partisan institution following a series of high-profile decisions.
Earlier this month the court, in a 5-4 vote allowed a controversial Texas abortion ban to go into effect and refused to block a lower court ruling ordering the Biden administration to reinstate Donald Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy.
“My goal today is to convince you that this court is not comprised of a bunch of partisan hacks,” Barrett said during a speech at the University of Louisville’s McConnell Center, according to USA Today.
To try and make her point more convincing, Barrett cited several cases in which the justices did not rule along party lines.
“The media, along with hot takes on Twitter, report the results and decisions. … That makes the decision seem results-oriented. It leaves the reader to judge whether the court was right or wrong, based on whether she liked the results of the decision,” Barrett said.
She insisted that “Judicial philosophies are not the same as political parties.”
“To say the court’s reasoning is flawed is different from saying the court is acting in a partisan manner,” Barrett said according to The Associated Press. “I think we need to evaluate what the court is doing on its own terms.”
Barrett was introduced at the event by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell who founded the university’s McConnell Center, and who played a key role in jamming through Barrett to fill the seat of liberal icon Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg while Americans were already voting in the November presidential election. McConnell infamously refused to give President Barack Obama’s nominee in 2016, Merrick Garland, a hearing. He argued at the time that it was close to the election and “the American people should have a say in the court’s direction.”
