Why Barrett should suspend her nomination

There are three reasons Barrett should take this unprecedented step. First, voting for the next president is already underway. Second, the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dying wish was that her seat on the court remain open until a new president was installed. Finally, Barrett’s nomination comes at a treacherous moment in the United States.

October 15, 2020 - 8:55 AM

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 12: Supreme Court Justice nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett listens during the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for Supreme Court Justice on Capitol Hill on October 12, 2020 in Washington, DC. With less than a month until the presidential election, President Donald Trump tapped Amy Coney Barrett to be his third Supreme Court nominee in just four years. If confirmed, Barrett would replace the late Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. (Stefani Reynolds/ Pool/Getty Images)

For Amy Coney Barrett of the University of Notre Dame, where she and I are both professors, her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court represents the crowning achievement of her legal career.

Widely regarded as a conservative in the mold of her mentor, the late Justice Antonin Scalia, Barrett has been praised as a brilliant scholar, a beloved teacher and a devoted mother. While Democrats are alarmed by the direction Barrett might take the court, there appears to be little they can do to stop it. Given the Republican majority in the Senate, Barrett’s confirmation as the next justice seems all but assured.

That is why it is vital that my Notre Dame colleague issue a public statement calling for an immediate halt to her nomination until after the November presidential election.

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