Amy Coney Barrett

President Donald Trump nominated Barrett on May 8, 2017, to serve as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, to the seat vacated by Judge John Daniel Tinder, who took senior status on February 18, 2015. President Barack Obama's January 2016 nominee for the vacancy, Myra C. Selby, was blocked in the U.S. Senate due to the blue slip opposition of Senator Dan Coats (R-IN). Selby's nomination was denied a United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary hearing and expired a year later.

A hearing on Barrett's nomination before the Senate Judiciary Committee was held on September 6, 2017. During Barrett's hearing, Democratic U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein questioned Barrett about whether her Catholic faith would influence her decision-making on the court. Feinstein, concerned about whether Barrett would uphold Roe v. Wade given her Catholic beliefs, followed Barrett's response by stating "the dogma lives loudly within you, and that is a concern". In response to Feinstein's question, the conservative Judicial Crisis Network began to sell mugs with Barrett's photo on them and displaying the Feinstein "dogma" quote. Feinstein's line of questioning was criticized by some observers and legal experts while defended by others. The issue prompted questions regarding the application of Article VI, Section 3 of the Constitution which mandates: “No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” During her hearing, Barrett said: "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."

On October 5, 2017, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted on a party-line basis of 11–9 to recommend Barrett and report her nomination to the full Senate. On October 30, 2017, the Senate invoked cloture by a vote of 54–42. The Senate confirmed her with a vote of 55–43 on October 31, 2017, with three Democrats – Joe Donnelly, Tim Kaine, and Joe Manchin – voting for her. She received her commission on November 2, 2017.

Barrett had been included on President Donald Trump's list of potential Supreme Court nominees since 2017. In July 2018, following the retirement announcement of Anthony Kennedy, she was reportedly one of three finalists considered by Trump as a possible successor to Kennedy. Trump nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh for the position. Barrett is considered to be a possible nominee for future Supreme Court vacancies. Trump is reportedly "saving" Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat for Amy Coney Barrett if Ginsburg retires or dies during Trump's presidency.

At Notre Dame, Barrett three times received the “distinguished professor of the year” award. Barrett is affiliated with Faculty for Life, a pro-life group at the University of Notre Dame. In 2015, Barrett signed a joint letter to Catholic bishops which affirmed the Church's teachings including "the value of human life from conception to natural death," and that family and marriage are "founded on the indissoluble commitment of a man and a woman".

At an event in 2013 that reflected on the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, she described the decision—in the paraphrase by Notre Dame Magazine—as "creating through judicial fiat a framework of abortion on demand". She also remarked that it was "very unlikely" the court will overturn the core aspect of Roe v. Wade: "The fundamental element, that the woman has a right to choose abortion, will probably stand. The controversy right now is about funding. It's a question of whether abortions will be publicly or privately funded."

From 2010 to 2016, she served by appointment of the Chief Justice on the Advisory Committee for the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure.

Barrett was a member of the Federalist Society from 2005 to 2006 and 2014 to 2017.

Barrett spent a year as a law and economics fellow at George Washington University before returning to her alma mater, Notre Dame, in 2002 to teach federal courts, constitutional law, and statutory interpretation. While at Notre Dame, she was named a Professor of Law in 2010, and, from 2014–17, held the Diane and M.O. Miller Research Chair of Law. Barrett has continued to teach as a sitting judge.

After graduating law school, Barrett served as a law clerk to Judge Laurence Silberman of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She then spent a year as a clerk to Associate Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1998–99. From 1999 to 2002, she practiced law at Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin in Washington, D.C..

Barrett graduated from St. Mary's Dominican High School in New Orleans in 1990. In 1994, Barrett graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in English literature from Rhodes College, where she was a Phi Beta Kappa member. In 1997, she graduated summa cum laude from the Notre Dame Law School with a Juris Doctor, where she was executive editor of the Notre Dame Law Review, a Kiley Fellow, and earned the Hoynes Prize, the Law School’s highest honor.  

Amy Coney Barrett (born 1972) is a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. She is also a professor of law at Notre Dame Law School and was a John M. Olin Fellow in Law at George Washington University Law School.

USA v. David Watson, 17-1651: Involved police responding to an anonymous tip that people were "playing with guns" in a parking lot. The police arrived and searched the defendant's vehicle, taking possession of two firearms. In a motion to suppress the firearms from the vehicle search, the court found that the police lacked probable cause to search the vehicle based solely upon the tip, where no crime was actually alleged. Writing for the majority, Barrett opined "the police were right to respond to the anonymous call by coming to the parking lot to determine what was happening. But determining what was happening and immediately seizing people upon arrival are two different things, and the latter was premature…Watson's case presents a close call. But this one falls on the wrong side of the Fourth Amendment."