WASHINGTON, KOMPAS.com - President Donald Trump has nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court which could reshape the federal judiciary for a generation.
The US President shared that Barrett’s nomination will provide a needed boost in his reelection campaign.
Judge Amy Coney Barrett is a former clerk to the late Justice Antonin Scalia and said Saturday that she was “truly humbled” by the nomination.
She quickly aligned herself with Scalia's conservative approach to the law, saying his “judicial philosophy is mine, too".
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Barrett, 48, was joined in the Rose Garden by her husband and seven children. If confirmed by the Senate, she would fill the seat vacated by liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
It would be the sharpest ideological swing since Clarence Thomas replaced Justice Thurgood Marshall nearly three decades ago.
She would be the sixth justice on the nine-member court to be appointed by a Republican president, and the third of Trump’s first term in office.
Trump hailed Amy Coney Barrett as “a woman of remarkable intellect and character”, saying he had studied her record closely before making the pick.
Republican senators are lining up for a swift confirmation of Barrett ahead of the November 3 election, as they aim to lock in conservative gains in the federal judiciary before a potential transition of power.