Judge Barrett, who currently sits on the Seventh Circuit, attached her name to an ad that appeared in the South Bend Tribune in 2006 sponsored by a group called St. Joseph County Right to Life. At the time, Judge Barrett was working as a professor at her alma mater, Notre Dame Law School, which is based in the Indiana city.
"It's time to put an end to the barbaric legacy of Roe v. Wade
and restore laws that protect the lives of unborn children," said the ad, which features images of infants, a young woman holding her midsection and the Supreme Court building.The resurfacing of the ad sparked concerns that President Donald Trump's nominee, if confirmed, could take aim at the milestone 1973 high court case.
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the highest-ranking Democrat in the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a news release Thursday that the statements Judge Barrett endorsed in the 2006 ad, "coupled with her record on the 7th Circuit, raise serious concerns about whether she would uphold the law."
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said in a statement Thursday that she would fight "tooth and nail" to stop Judge Barrett's nomination, with the senator citing her commitment to protecting women's right to legal abortion access.
The office of Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, responded to a request for comment by referring to the senator's public comments during a Wednesday meeting with Judge Barrett.
"I think the American people are going to see over the coming days someone who is very capable of understanding the difference between personal beliefs — whatever they may have we all have personal beliefs — and that of being a judge," Graham said.
During her nearly three-year tenure on the Seventh Circuit, Judge Barrett has left a thin but telling paper trail on how she might rule in cases concerning the constitutionality of state abortion restrictions, and numerous cases seeking review by the high court may open the door to eroding long-standing precedent.
While Judge Barrett has not directly written an opinion on abortion, her dissents in two separate cases appear to support imposing restrictions on the practice.
In 2018, Judge Barrett sided with a dissent in an order denying en banc rehearing of a ruling that deemed unconstitutional Indiana's attempt to ban abortions based on a fetus's sex, race or disability, and to require aborted fetuses to be buried or cremated. And in October 2019, she voted with the minority in another order denying en banc rehearing of a decision upholding an injunction on a law entitling parents to be notified about a minor's intent to get an abortion.
Well-liked by the conservative legal establishment, Judge Barrett's stock rose dramatically after Democrats seized on her Catholic faith during her Senate confirmation to question whether she could be an impartial judge on the Seventh Circuit. She was ultimately confirmed in October 2017.
The 48-year-old New Orleans native and mother of seven earned her bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, from Rhodes College and went to Notre Dame Law School on a full-tuition scholarship, graduating first in her class in 1997.
Her legal career began with back-to-back clerkships for two conservative heavyweights, D.C. Circuit Judge Laurence H. Silberman and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
--Additional reporting by Kevin Stawicki, Andrew Kragie and Jimmy Hoover. Editing by Bruce Goldman.
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