What Took You So Long?

             My VIP for this week is Amy Coney Barrett, the newest Justice to join the U.S. Supreme Court. The Senate voted along party lines – 52-48 – to confirm her nomination at 8:00 P.M., and less than two hours later at 9:15 P.M. Justice Clarence Thomas officiated as she took the official constitutional oath of office at the White House. She will be administered the judicial oath on Tuesday in a private ceremony at the Supreme Court. Then she will take her place as a Justice on the Supreme Court.

Barrett is the 115^th Justice to be confirmed to the Supreme Court and the 5^th woman. By all accounts, she is highly qualified for the position, and she will bring a different viewpoint to the Court. She is the only conservative woman on the Court and the only mother of school-age children on the Court.

Liberals and Conservatives alike should rejoice at the idea of a constitutionalist being confirmed to the Supreme Court, but Democrats are throwing a temper tantrum at the audacity of President Donald Trump for make the nomination and of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for holding the confirmation vote. However, those who do rejoice at a constitutionalist being joining the court will like her statement.

The oath that I have solemnly taken tonight means, at its core, that I will do my job without any fear or favor, and that I will do so independently of both the political branches and of my own preferences. I love the Constitution and the democratic republic that it establishes, and I will devote myself to preserving it.

            I do not ask more of her, and no one else should either. She is young at only 48 years of age, so she should have 20 to 30 years on the bench – at least. If she lives as long as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died at age 87 years, Barrett could be there for 40 years. I feel good about her appointment and confident in her ability to make constitutional decisions.