# Amy Coney Barrett *Associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States since 2020* Amy Vivian Coney Barrett (born January 28, 1972) has held a seat as an associate justice of the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] since 2020, on the nomination of President Donald Trump.[^1] Trump had earlier nominated her to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, where she sat from 2017 to 2020.[^1] Trump announced her Supreme Court nomination on September 26, 2020, following the September 18 death of Justice [[Ruth Bader Ginsburg]].[^1] The nomination came 38 days before the 2020 presidential election. In 2016, the Senate Republican majority had declined to consider President Barack Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland.[^1] In October 2020 the [[United States Senate]] confirmed Barrett by 52 votes to 48, with every Democrat and one Republican voting against.[^1] In the Minnesota record, an event listing on the University of Minnesota's Northrop site records a 2023 Robert A. Stein '61 Lecture, billed as a conversation between Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett and a professor.[^2] ## Early life and education Barrett was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1972, the eldest of seven children.[^1] She finished at St. Mary's Dominican High School in New Orleans in 1990.[^1] At Rhodes College in [[Memphis]], Tennessee, she majored in English literature and received a Bachelor of Arts in 1994.[^1] She then enrolled at Notre Dame Law School on a full-tuition scholarship. She served as an executive editor of the *Notre Dame Law Review* and took her Juris Doctor in 1997, first in her class.[^1] ## Legal career After law school Barrett spent two years as a law clerk. From 1997 to 1998 she worked for Judge Laurence Silberman on the D.C. Circuit. From 1998 to 1999 she clerked at the Supreme Court for Justice [[Antonin Scalia]].[^1] Between 1999 and 2002 she worked at Miller Cassidy Larroca & Lewin, a Washington, D.C., litigation firm that merged with Baker Botts in 2001. At Baker Botts she supplied research and briefing help on *Bush v. Gore* for the firm's representation of George W. Bush.[^1] She was a visiting associate professor at George Washington University Law School in 2001. She joined the Notre Dame Law School faculty in 2002 and was named a professor of law there in 2010.[^1] From 2014 to 2017 she held Notre Dame's Diane and M.O. Miller II Research Chair of Law. Her scholarship addressed constitutional law, originalism, statutory interpretation and stare decisis.[^1] ## Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals (2017–2020) Trump nominated Barrett to the Seventh Circuit on May 8, 2017, to the seat vacated when Judge John Daniel Tinder took senior status. That court hears appeals from Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.[^1] The Senate Judiciary Committee held its hearing on September 6, 2017.[^1] Senator Dianne Feinstein asked Barrett about *Catholic Judges in Capital Cases*, a 1998 *Marquette Law Review* article Barrett co-wrote with Professor John H. Garvey. The article argued that Catholic judges should in some cases recuse themselves from death-penalty cases.[^1] Barrett replied that "It is never appropriate for a judge to impose that judge's personal convictions, whether they arise from faith or anywhere else, on the law." Feinstein responded, "the dogma lives loudly within you, and that is a concern."[^1] ## Nomination to the Supreme Court Barrett had appeared on Trump's list of potential Supreme Court nominees since 2017. In July 2018, after Justice [[Anthony Kennedy]] announced his retirement, she was reportedly among three finalists Trump considered.[^1] After Ginsburg's death, Trump announced on September 26, 2020, that he would nominate Barrett. Republicans generally supported confirming her before the election, and Democrats generally opposed filling the seat while voting was under way.[^1] In October the American Bar Association rated her "well qualified," its highest rating.[^1] Senator Lindsey Graham scheduled the confirmation hearing on October 5, and it opened on October 12.[^1] ## United States Supreme Court (2020–present) Barrett took office as the 103rd associate justice on October 27, 2020.[^1] At her request, Justice [[Clarence Thomas]] gave her the first of two required oaths at a White House ceremony on the evening of the confirmation vote. Chief Justice [[John Roberts]] administered the judicial oath the following day.[^1] When she joined the Court, Barrett was the only sitting justice whose Juris Doctor did not come from Harvard or Yale. She was the first justice without an Ivy League degree since [[John Paul Stevens]] retired in 2010. She was also the first such appointee since [[Sandra Day O'Connor]].[^1] She is the first Notre Dame Law School graduate, and the first former member of its faculty, to sit on the Court.[^1] In November 2020 she was given the Seventh Circuit as her circuit assignment, which includes handling emergency applications arising from that circuit.[^1] She heard her first oral argument on November 2, in *U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service v. Sierra Club*. On November 4 the Court heard *Fulton v. Philadelphia*.[^1] ## Judicial philosophy, academic writings, speeches, and political views Barrett is regarded as a textualist in reading statutes. In constitutional cases she is an originalist of the original-public-meaning school, as opposed to original intent.[^1] University of Virginia law professors Joshua Fischman and Kevin Cope ranked her the most conservative Seventh Circuit judge. They found her not statistically distinguishable from six other Republican-appointed judges on that court.[^1] By their measure she was more conservative than her colleagues on civil rights. She was less conservative on employment discrimination, labor and criminal-defendant cases.[^1] A Reuters review reported that her Seventh Circuit rulings mostly favored police and prison guards accused of excessive force.[^1] Barrett has said she regards herself as an originalist rather than as a swing vote or a conservative.[^1] ## Personal life Barrett married Jesse M. Barrett, also a Notre Dame Law School graduate, in 1999. He worked for 13 years as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana.[^1] They have seven children, two of them adopted from Haiti.[^1] Barrett is a practicing Catholic. She has belonged since birth to People of Praise, an ecumenical covenant community founded in South Bend, Indiana.[^1] Politico reported that her Indiana ballot history shows votes in the 2016 and 2018 general elections and the 2016 Republican primary, and a Democratic ballot in the 2011 primary.[^1] Her memoir *Listening to the Law* was published on September 28, 2025.[^1] ## Affiliations Barrett belonged to the Federalist Society from 2005 to 2006 and again from 2014 to 2017. She is a member of the American Law Institute.[^1] ## Selected scholarly works - *Catholic Judges in Capital Cases* (with John H. Garvey), *Marquette Law Review* 81 (1998).[^1] - *Stare Decisis and Due Process*, *University of Colorado Law Review* 74 (2003).[^1] - *Originalism and Stare Decisis*, *Notre Dame Law Review* 92 (2017).[^1] - *Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court and Constitution* (New York: Sentinel, 2025).[^1] ## In the Minnesota record ### What A University of Minnesota Northrop event listing, attributed to Robert A. Stein, records the *2023 Robert A. Stein '61 Lecture*. The listing describes the lecture as a conversation between Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett and a professor.[^2] The record in this pack does not establish the date, venue or content of the conversation beyond that listing.[^2] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia, *Amy Coney Barrett* (revision 1380651829, retrieved 2026-10-26; CC BY-SA 4.0) — biographical, career, nomination, confirmation and Court-service facts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Coney_Barrett [^2]: Northrop, University of Minnesota (listing attributed to Robert A. Stein), *2023 Robert A. Stein '61 Lecture* (2023) — event listing for a lecture billed as a conversation with Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett. https://www.northrop.umn.edu/events/2023-stein-lecture-associate-justice-amy-coney-barrett