Since joining the U.S. Supreme Court in 2020, Justice Amy Coney Barrett has voted with the majority to expand gun rights, curtail affirmative action, kill Chevron deference, and eliminate the constitutional right to abortion, all causes that have long been near and dear to the hearts of American conservatives. Yet despite her role in bringing about these landmark conservative victories, a notable faction of the American right is now bizarrely denouncing Barrett as a closet liberal, a "diversity, equity, and inclusion hire," or worse. What gives?
For the record, I have also found fault with some of Barrett's legal views in recent years. But the notion that she is some kind of intellectual lightweight is ludicrous. Also preposterous is the notion that she is some kind of Justice David Souter redux. The reason why conservatives felt so betrayed by Souter is because not so long after President George H.W. Bush appointed him to SCOTUS, Souter joined the majority in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), which saved Roe v. Wade (1973), and thus saved the right to abortion, from destruction. By contrast, not so long after Trump appointed Barrett to SCOTUS, she joined the majority in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022), which destroyed both Casey and Roe. Barrett's conservative legal credentials seem plenty shiny.
So, what really explains the current right-wing animus directed at this Trump-appointed justice?
