Donald Trump Nominates Amy Coney Barrett to Replace RBG on Supreme Court

President Donald Trump has formally nominated Amy Coney Barrett, who has an anti-LGBTQ record, to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court.

Barrett was a former clerk of anti-gay Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia before being confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals in 2017. At that time, she was criticized for signing onto a 2015 letter from the Ethics and Public Policy Center for Catholic Women opposing marriage equality. She has also been connected to the Catholic group People of Praise, which supports the belief that women should be subservient to their husbands.

If she is confirmed, she would give the Court a six to three conservative majority.

“If confirmed, Judge Amy Coney Barrett will unleash a Supreme Court majority that is hostile to all of our basic civil rights, and the impact will be felt for decades,” Lambda Legal CEO Kevin Jennings said of the nomination. “[Barrett’s] personal belief that marriage is between a man and a woman, coupled with her unwillingness to affirm that the Supreme Court’s decision making marriage equality the law of the land is settled law, should sound the alarm for anyone who cares about LGBTQ people and their families.”

When formally announcing the nomination at a press conference in the White House Rose Garden, Trump said Barrett was “a woman of…sterling credentials and unyielding loyalty to the Constitution.”

51 Senate votes are needed to confirm Barrett to the Supreme Court, with Vice President Pence acting as the deciding vote if necessary. There are currently 53 Republican Senators.