About a week after the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, President Donald Trump named Amy Coney Barrett as his high court nominee.
The Senate is scheduled to begin confirmation hearings Monday for Barrett.
Here are some things to know about Barrett:
Law professor
Barrett is a law professor at Notre Dame Law School, where the wife and mother is also a 1997 alumna. She’s been a member of the faculty since 2002. In October 2017, she was confirmed as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit after being nominated by Trump.
Gun rights
While on the appeals court, USA Today reported, she dissented when the court upheld a decision that restricted the Second Amendment rights of a felon convicted of mail fraud, saying non-violent offenders shouldn’t have their right to bear arms forfeited.
Race and age discrimination
She also helped block the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s effort to stop AutoZone from transferring employees in the Chicago area based on their race or ethnicity. In another case, she ruled the Age Discrimination in Employment Act does not apply when policies don’t intentionally impact workers.
Catholic religion
Barrett is a favorite among religious conservatives. When asked about her beliefs, which was a concern among Democrats during her 2017 confirmation hearing for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, she said, “I would stress that my personal church affiliation or my religious belief would not bear in the discharge of my duties as a judge.”
Before that, she noted, “If you’re asking whether I take my faith seriously and I’m a faithful Catholic, I am.”
She is a former member of Notre Dame’s Faculty for Life, which promotes “research, dialogue and publication by faculty who respect the value of human life from conception to natural death.”
Antonin Scalia clerk
Before working as a faculty member at Notre Dame, Barrett clerked for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1998. She also clerked for Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
2000 Election recount
While in private practice, Barrett was working at Baker Botts, the firm that represented George W. Bush in the Florida vote recount for president. She was part of the group of lawyers who assisted in the case in court.
Considered by Donald Trump before
Trump considered Barrett for a high court seat before, and she was reportedly a contender the last time there was a vacancy. At the time, Trump chose Justice Brett Kavanaugh instead.
If confirmed, she would be the youngest person on the current court.
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