In what we call a democratic government, to have a system that can allow a person to be put into a major government position with the power to make decisions about our country for multiple generations, and is not voted for by the people is disgusting and wrong.

Amy Coney Barrett was nominated by Donald Trump, a president who lost the popular vote by almost three million. Then Barrett was confirmed to the Supreme Court by a completely partisan vote from a group of Republican senators that represent populations much smaller than the Democratic senators opposed to the judges confirmation. On top of this, the process started less than two months before an election, where the president had the option to wait and give the people time to decide who they wanted choosing the country’s next Supreme Court Justice. 

Our government is not representing the majority of the people, but the people who have the most power.

As a woman who lives in the United States I’m terrified. I’m terrified for other women, I’m terrified for the LGBTQ+ community, I’m terrified for the negative environmental impact this could make, and I’m terrified for people who can’t afford healthcare during a major global health crisis. Amy Coney Barrett is not only a conservative judge — she wants to deny people’s basic human rights. 

Judge Barrett has shown in the past her motivation to chip away at abortion rights and, if given the opportunity, completely overturn the landmark abortion case Roe v Wade. This Supreme Court decision allowed for the legalization of abortion in all states and in most ways would be considered precedent — or a case that can’t be overturned — because it has been questioned in the court many times and was never deemed unconstitutional. 

Getting rid of Roe v Wade will not end abortion. All it will do is force women to turn to unsafe — and what could be deadly — procedures. It will be another way for men to have control over women’s bodies. While Barrett may call herself a pro-lifer, making this change will only hurt women, not help them. There are no studies that say making abortion illegal lowers abortion rates. In actuality, abortion has been on a decline in recent years. The Gutterman Institute came out with a study in 2019 stating that they believe the decline of abortion rates has been due to long term contraceptives, not from restricting abortions. This can be determined because birth rates have also gone down; if the decrease was because of the restrictions of abortion, then birth rates would go up. 

The Institute also claimed that since those contraceptives are covered under the Affordable Care Act, allowing more people to have easy access to birth control has helped the decrease. It is clear many conservatives are attempting to overturn the Act and it can be assumed that Barrett also agrees with this, due to Trump saying he will only put Supreme Court justices on the court who would vote against the act. Repulican politicians such as Ted Cruz and Mitch McConnell don’t actually care for people’s lives because if they did they would listen to the facts and not take away people’s access to healthcare.  

Barrett has proven she doesn’t care about people’s liberties. In a dissent Barrett wrote about a case titled Kantar v Barr, where a man convicted of mail fraud wanted to buy a gun but wasn’t allowed due to the fact he was a felon. She argued that he should have the right to buy a gun because the crime wasn’t a violent one. If she were to implement this kind of opinion on the Supreme Court then felons would have easier access to buying guns than they would to being able to vote, which is a staple part of any democracy. 

Not only is Barrett trying to take away certain rights from many people, but she is also not qualified for the position. Barrett has never argued a case in front of the Supreme Court and has only been a judge for the Federal Appeals Court since 2017. Before joining the court she was a professor at Notre Dame. Although many of her students and faculty liked her as a teacher, many have come out saying she shouldn’t be on the Supreme Court. A letter circulated on October 10 addressed straight to Judge Barrett about how she should halt her process until the election was over. The letter was signed by 93 faculty and a second letter signed by more peers bringing up the number of signers to almost 200. 

This appointment is in direct disregard to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dying wish for the government to leave her seat open until a new president was in office, or at least once the election was over. Not only was rushing her appointment unfair to the people of America, but it spit in the face of a Supreme Court judge who was loved by the country and did so much to lift up its people.