Amy Coney Barrett Sworn In As Supreme Court Justice
Judge Amy Coney Barrett was sworn in as a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday evening, officially tilting the balance of the court farther to the right than it’s been in 70 years.
Justice Clarence Thomas, the court’s most conservative member, gave Barrett the constitutional oath at the White House hours after the Senate voted to confirm her. Chief Justice John Roberts will administer the judicial oath on Tuesday morning in a private ceremony at the Supreme Court. After that event, she will be able to officially begin work on the nation’s highest court.
Justices nominated by President Donald Trump now comprise one-third of the nine-person court.
“I am grateful for the confidence you have expressed in me, and I pledge to you, and to the American people, that I will discharge my duties to the very best of my ability,” Barrett said Tuesday night. “I will do my job without any fear or favor and that I will do so independently of both the political branches and of my own preferences.”
“I love the Constitution and the democratic republic that it establishes and I will devote myself to preserving it,” she continued.
Trump celebrated Barrett’s nomination on Tuesday and cheered the work of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to push through her nomination.
“She is one of our nation’s most brilliant legal scholars and she will make an outstanding justice on the highest court in the land,” the president said. “It is highly fitting that Justice Barrett fills the seat of a true pioneer for women, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.”
No Supreme Court confirmation has ever occurred this close to a presidential election, which is just over a week away. Following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Sept. 18, Democrats strongly opposed Trump moving forward with filling the vacancy this close to Election Day, which polls suggest may result in a win for Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Ginsburg also expressed a dying...
