Paula lugones
09/26/2020 - 18:05
Clarín.com
World
The remains of Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg have not yet been buried with her husband in Arlington Cemetery, but President Donald Trump already announced this Saturday that his candidate to replace the most popular justice on the Supreme Court
will be the ultra-conservative Amy Coney Barret, an antithesis of the progressive judge who passed away on Friday.
If approved by the Senate - it is discounted that this will be the Republican dominance of the upper house -
the highest court in the United States will have a large right-wing majority (6 to 3), a balance that could unleash changes
in issues important such as the right to abortion, the environment, immigration, homosexual marriage, among others.
Furthermore, the Court may have a decisive role in the upcoming presidential elections on November 3, which could end up being defined in a judicial dispute.
Trump announced that Coney Barret would replace Ginsburg, popularly known as “RGB”, a
feminist icon
who died of cancer at the age of 87 and who always leaned in favor of equality between men and women, the defense of women's rights. LGBT community, abortion and the limit to arms.
Barret, born in New Orleans, but with a current position as an appeals judge in the Seventh Circuit based in Chicago, will be,
at 48 years old, the youngest judge on
the high court, who has life positions.
She is a devout Catholic, married and mother of 7 children, two of whom were adopted in Haiti, and due to her religious convictions she is a fervent opponent of abortion.
He is a member of an ultra-conservative Christian group known as the
People of Praise
, an organization that, according to various media reports, promotes the idea that
a married woman should delegate authority within the home to her husband
, who in turn are guided by spiritual advisers or "Leaders" in their life decisions, while members are expected to donate 5% of their income to the organization.
Barret worked for more than 10 years with the late judge Antonin Scalia and, like him, defines himself as an
"originalist"
or
"textualist"
, which means that he seeks to strictly adhere to the text of the Constitution and tries to apply in his sentences the original intention that its architects had in 1787.
It does not admit interpretations adapted to the new times.
Chuck Schumer, Senate Democratic Minority Leader, said Barrett
"stands for all the things that Ruth Bader Ginsburg was against
.
"
He added, "Many things that the vast majority of the American people do not agree on."
REUTERS / Carlos Barria
With the approval of Barret by the Senate, the Supreme Court, which had a conservative majority of 5 to 4 and (although the moderate conservative president John Roberts sometimes voted with the more progressive sector), would go to a 6 to 3 in fundamental rulings that could soon be revised by pressure from the right such as the Roe Vs Wade of 1973, which establishes the right to abortion, and others that endorse gay marriage, climate change, the protection of workers and immigrants, experts estimate .
Affirmative action policies in education and some rights enshrined in the health law known as "Obamacare" could also be affected.
This speedy appointment is a highly controversial decision
to
less than 40 days before the presidential elections,
But Trump sought to seal the majority in court and at the same time offer a great
gesture to the religious sectors
that support him and that were fundamental in achieving his triumph in 2016. In a country where 60% of the inhabitants go to the At least once a month at mass, evangelical Christians, for example, make up 25% of US voters. 81% of them voted for Trump in the last elections and gave him vital victories in Florida and Michigan.
The Democrats - and an express request from Ginsburg before his death - demanded that the discussion about the vacancy be frozen, until after the elections, which will define whether or not Trump remains in the White House.
There was a very immediate precedent in that regard: In 2016, Republicans opposed voting for a Barack Obama nominee to replace the late Conservative Justice Scalia, arguing that it was an election year.
The position of the Democrats is shared by the majority of Americans.
According to a Washington Post / ABC poll revealed this Saturday, 57% of those consulted - compared to 38% - oppose confirming the new magistrate before the elections.
But, pragmatic at last, the Republicans in the Senate ignored the will of the judge and the people, turned their arguments from 4 years ago and said that they will speed up the times to vote very soon: they do not want to take the risk to lose the presidential election and for the Democrat Biden to nominate the new magistrate, who would obviously be a liberal rather than a conservative.
Confirmation requires a simple majority and Republicans outnumber Democrats 53-47 in the Senate.
AP Photo
Trump, who already appointed two justices to the Supreme Court during his tenure, then rushed to initiate the process to fill Ginsburg's seat and within days he bowed to Barret.
While he claims he will win applause from his party ranks, some Republican strategists fear some of Barret's positions will scare not just Democrats
but moderate and independent voters
who would have preferred someone less radical.
Washington. Correspondent
