OHIO, USA — On Saturday, President Donald Trump nominated Judge Amy Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Following the nomination, Governor Mike DeWine issued the following statement applauding the selection and urging the U.S. Senate to confirm her nomination.
"As President of the United States, President Trump has the constitutional obligation to put forward a U.S. Supreme Court nominee, and I applaud his selection of Judge Amy Coney Barrett, who is both highly qualified and highly respected. In addition to her distinguished judicial career, Judge Coney Barrett is a mother of seven, a constitutional scholar, and an esteemed law professor."
Though Amy Coney Barrett is the expected replacement for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she is more aptly described as the heir to another departed Supreme Court justice: conservative hero Antonin Scalia.
Like Scalia, for whom she once clerked, she is a committed Catholic as well as a firm devotee of his favored interpretation of the Constitution known as originalism. Those qualifications delight many on the right but dismay liberals and others who fear her votes could result in chipping away of some laws, especially the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.
"Judge Coney Barrett’s prior writings and judicial opinions show that she will interpret the law fairly and impartially, and I urge the U.S. Senate to act quickly to confirm her nomination," his statement concluded.
Other Ohio lawmakers weighed in on the Coney Barrett nomination on Saturday, including two of the members of the Senate who will vote on her confirmation.
U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown:
U.S. Senator Rob Portman: "I welcome the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to serve as the next Associate Justice of the #SCOTUS. Judge Barrett is a well regarded jurist with a distinguished record of service who was confirmed by the Senate nearly 3 years ago for the 7th Circuit. I look forward to meeting with her in the coming weeks as part of the evaluation process."
Two local members of the U.S. House of Representatives also added their thoughts on Coney Barrett's nomination.
Rep. Marcy Kaptur: “Amy Coney Barrett has a history of legal opinions that are inconsistent with the progress working people have fought so hard to achieve in this nation. The Declaration of Independence reads that Governments are instituted among the people, ‘deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.’ By large margins, Americans want Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s replacement for the Supreme Court to be selected by the winner of November’s presidential election, consistent with Ginsberg’s final wish. After blocking President Obama’s Supreme Court pick to replace Justice Antonin Scalia for over a year, Mitch McConnell will now rush to fill the Ginsburg vacancy with Coney Barrett in less than 40 days.”
“Our Supreme Court was designed by the Founders to be a neutral interpreter of the law, holding the Executive Branch and Congress accountable to the Constitution and the law. That all falls apart when one party stacks the court in their favor for a generation.
“There should be no confirmation until inauguration.”
Rep. Tim Ryan: “More than 13 million Americans are unemployed and more than 200,000 have died; working-class people spent months begging for help from Congress. But instead of President Trump and Senate Republicans working with us to get help out to those who need it, they have spent the past four months sitting on their hands. Now their political game continues: while the American people are still desperate for help, President Trump and Senate Republicans are instead dropping everything to confirm an extremist justice to the court before the November 3rd election. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spent a lifetime helping our country live up to its founding ideals. Her dying wish was that Senator McConnell follow the rule he himself made, and a nominee not be confirmed until the next presidential term. I hope my Republican colleagues will heed her wish and focus on the critical issue of getting the American people the relief they need."