Trump nominates conservative Amy Coney Barrett in attempt to push Supreme Court further to right

In a move that would further push the Supreme Court to the right, President Trump on Saturday announced conservative judge Amy Coney Barrett as his latest nominee to the country's highest court, just over a week after the death of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The highly anticipated choice of Barrett, an appeals court judge out of Chicago, came Saturday evening at the White House.

Trump referred to Barrett as a woman of “unparalleled achievement, towering intellect, sterling credentials and unyielding loyalty to the Constitution.”

“I looked, and I studied, and you are very eminently qualified for this job,” Trump told Barrett at one point. “You are going to be fantastic.” 

The president pointed out that Barrett, if confirmed, will be the first mother of school-aged children to serve on the court. 

Barrett, meanwhile, said she was “truly humbled” at the prospect of serving on the high court.

She pledged to “discharge the judicial oath, which requires me to administer justice without respect to persons, do equal right to the poor and rich, and faithfully and impartially discharge my duties under the United States Constitution.”

“I never imagined that I would find myself in this position,” she said, “but now that I am, I assure you that I will meet the challenge with both humility and courage.”

Barrett, a devout Catholic, has served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit since 2017. She graduated from Notre Dame Law School and has been an instructor at the college for almost two decades. She also clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia.

Her husband, Jesse Barrett is a former prosecutor now in private practice. The couple have seven children, including two adopted from Haiti.  

The 48-year-old nominee will, if confirmed by the Senate, be the youngest justice currently on the bench.

When Justice Anthony Kennedy retired in 2018, Trump reportedly considered Barrett as a potential nominee before selecting Brett Kavanaugh, who now sits on the court. Barrett had visited the White House earlier this week to meet with the president.

Barrett's nomination will now head to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where hearings for her confirmation will reportedly begin the week of Oct. 12. After the hearings, Barrett's nomination will go to the Senate floor for a vote, with the Senate Republican majority expected to confirm her to the high court.