WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) today delivered remarks on the Senate floor in support of Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the United States Supreme Court. 

Highlights:


SUPREMELY QUALIFIED: “Based on her impressive resume, Judge Barrett is clearly qualified to serve on the Supreme Court. The non-partisan American Bar Association (ABA) rated her ‘well qualified.’ That is the ABA’s highest ranking for judicial nominees. Judge Barrett’s judicial philosophy and record on the Seventh Circuit are those of a mainstream jurist who considers herself bound by the law – not free to decide cases based on her own personal opinions.”


JUDGES AREN’T POLICY MAKERS: “The role of judges is to apply our Constitution and laws as written to the cases before them – not implement their own policy agendas. As Judge Barrett put it in her own words, ‘Judges can’t just wake up one day and say: “I have an agenda… and walk in like a royal queen and impose my will on the world[.]” Instead – she has explained that it is “never appropriate for a judge to impose that Judge’s personal convictions” in determining the outcome of a case. She went on to say, ‘A judge must apply the law as written. Judges are not policymakers – and they must be resolute in setting aside any policy views they might hold.’ Judge Barrett’s success in applying the law is reflected in the fact that over 90 percent of the majority opinions she has written were unanimously agreed to by her colleagues on the Seventh Circuit. No decision she has written has ever been overturned or reversed by the Supreme Court. This record is only possible when a judge is deciding cases fairly and in accord with the mainstream views of colleagues appointed by both Republican and Democrat Presidents.”

JUDGE BARRETT IS A ROLE MODEL: “Judge Barrett is a model of professional and personal success. We’ve all heard she is the mother of seven, which in and of itself is quite an achievement. And if confirmed, she would be the first mother of school-aged children to serve on the Supreme Court. She is absolutely dedicated to her faith and to her community, and she is held in very high regard by the many students she has taught and mentored over the years. You could certainly tell during the questioning in the Judiciary Committee during that hearing that she has been in the arena many times with very inquisitive people and students. In short, Judge Barrett is a stellar nominee who will show a new generation—our daughters and granddaughters—that anything is possible in America.”

 

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