The Senate should confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, and quickly

When faced with challenging times, our country has always come together to protect our essential freedoms and ensure justice is available to all. The passing of a Supreme Court justice is one of these challenges — and our country has the strength to overcome it. Our Founding Fathers designed a system to ensure the highest court of the land is made up of the best legal minds in the country, who are ready to apply the law fairly and evenly, as written in the Constitution.

In support of these ideals of justice and fairness, the Opportunity Solutions Project strongly urges the Senate to promptly confirm President Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Amy Coney Barrett. Judge Barrett represents the best of American values on justice, patience, hard work, and determination. She stands a cut above many other similarly qualified jurists with her exemplary record of interpreting the Constitution as written.

Barrett is an exceptional nominee, having graduated at the top of her class at Notre Dame Law School before clerking for Justice Antonin Scalia. After teaching at Notre Dame for 15 years, she was appointed as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 2017.

The unfortunate vacancy left by the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg must be filled in a timely manner to continue the important role of the judiciary. The Constitution is clear — the president has a solemn duty to make a nomination for the Senate’s consideration. President Trump fulfilled his duty by putting forward Barrett, and now the Senate must do its job. Any delay in hearings is unjustified.

The nomination of a Supreme Court justice during an election year is based on historical precedent. Six justices have been confirmed during election years since 1900, including Justice Anthony Kennedy. Many Democrats supported election-year nominations in 2016, arguing that once a nomination is made by the president, the Senate has a responsibility to consider and approve or disapprove the nomination.

Now, those same Democrats are calling upon the Senate to forsake their obligation and refuse to hold a hearing for Barrett. The hypocrisy astounds legal observers who recognize the important need to seat a ninth justice of the Supreme Court in an expeditious fashion.

Work requirements for Medicaid is one of many issues that clamors for attention from the full court. States recognize the vital importance of work for able-bodied adults and its power to break generational chains of poverty. Yet, lower court political activist judges have blocked attempts by states to creatively incentivize work for welfare, despite plain text laws permitting this approach.

In the same vein, judges attempting to legislate from the bench in Washington, D.C., have blocked legal attempts by the Trump administration to implement common sense program integrity measures for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, colloquially known by its former name, food stamps, that would ensure tax dollars are being spent appropriately.

Barrett would apply her admirable judicial philosophy to cases like these. In her nomination to the Seventh Circuit, she made clear that she has “rejected throughout my entire career the proposition that the end justifies the means or that a judge should decide cases based on a desire to reach a certain outcome.” She understands a judge must apply the law — not manipulate it to accomplish partisan goals.

Our country needs judges who respect the law and apply it fairly and evenly. Barrett is the embodiment of this philosophy, and for that reason we urge the Senate to support her prompt confirmation to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Chase Martin is a visiting fellow for the Opportunity Solutions Project, and the legal affairs director at the Foundation for Government Accountability, where he manages the drafting and review of model legislation and regulatory comments.