Amy Coney Barrett.Photo: Robert Franklin/South Bend Tribune via AP
With JudgeKetanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Courtall but certain, JusticeAmy Coney Barrettwon’t be the high court’s junior member for long.
“Fortunately, I’m a mother of seven,” she quipped. “I’m used to distractions and sometimes even outbursts.”
Barrett also spoke about the moment she learned that JusticeRuth Bader Ginsburghad died and that she would be thrust into the media spotlight, how she and her husband, Jesse M. Barrett, balance their work and raising seven children and why the Supreme Court cafeteria is not ideal for date night — even though it has a “fro-yo machine” and Starbucks coffee.
Death of RBG
“My husband and I were out to dinner on a Friday night thatJustice Ginsburg passed away[in September 2020]. We were with two friends, both of whom happen to be lawyers, enjoying a wonderful meal and then our phones started going off.”
Barrett said the news of “the loss of a great American” was “a very sad occasion and obviously put a damper on the meal.”
Back in the Spotlight
“Regardless of what happened, at that point I was likely to become the object of media scrutiny again,” she said. “That weekend … I intended to go to Costco and go to my daughter’s soccer game.”
But the marshal of the Supreme Court, charged with court security, advised the potential nominee to stay at home, which gave the couple an opportunity to discuss facing a possible life-changing decision together, Barrett said.
Judge Amy Coney Barrett.OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images
“Are we up to this or are we not?” Barrett said they asked each other. “Jesse said, ‘This is an opportunity to serve our country and if you want to do it, I’m all in. But if we do it, we’re burning the boats.’ "
That line, Barrett added, became their “mantra.”
“The confirmation process is going to be hard if you’re selected,” her husband said, according to Barrett. “And then if you are confirmed, there will be a lot of hard things that we face about the job and there just cannot be any looking back. If you agree on those terms, then I’m in.”
Her Confirmation
“My process was a little bit unique,” Barrett, 50, said, acknowledging the “compressed time frame” for herselection and confirmation processwhich unfolded in unprecedented fashion only weeks before the2020 presidential electionafter Ginsburg died on Sept. 18, 2020. (Many Democrats also took issue with Barrett’s conservative background, in contrast to the liberal Ginsburg.)
Work-Life ‘Balance’
In short, Barrett said being a mom of seven and a Supreme Court justice is tough — but in a way that is likely familiar to others.
“The challenges that we face are those that couples who are both working and have children at home always face,” she said of raising a family with her husband, who is an attorney.
Judge Amy Coney Barrett.Drew Angerer/Getty
Barrett also said she and her husband do not to talk shop to avoid any potential conflicts of interest.
“It’s something that we’re very conscious of and careful about, but we’re living in a time when we have a lot of couples who both are working so I think that the court and society has to adjust to respect that,” she said.
Asked whether the court should introduce guidelines for the spouses of justices, she suggested it may not be the best idea.
“I don’t think most of the spouses would be happy about those guidelines,” she said. “Certainly when I try to give my husband guidelines about what to do and what not to do in the house, even, that does not go over very well.”
Advice for a New Justice
“I was starting midterm,” she explained. “I was confirmed, and there were arguments the following Monday. I was scrambling. I had to set up a chamber, hire staff and get up and running on the oral arguments, read the briefs.”
Barrett suggested that a new justice should prepare herself for two uncomfortable realities that come with the job. “One of the difficult things that I experienced — and I wasn’t really prepared for — was the shift into being a public figure,” she said. “Also security is much different now … We all have security details.”
Supreme Court justices.Erin Schaff-Pool/Getty
“On the night that I was confirmed,” she said, “both the Chief Justice [John Roberts] and Justice [Sonia] Sotomayorcalled immediately to extend their congratulations.”
Hopping Fences in Heels
While discussing the intensity of the spotlight, Barrett told a story from 2018 when she was considered for the seat that JusticeBrett Kavanaughultimately filled.
She said at that time, “Five media trucks parked outside our house for days and days on end. Some were very aggressive.”
One Sunday morning, as she headed to Mass, she said, “I led them on a chase through the neighborhood because I didn’t want to be followed. I was very proud of myself because I managed to shake them. I was confident. I parked the car at our church. And when I went to walk in, I saw one of the Suburbans.”
OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images
During the service, Barrett said she “spent the whole time … plotting how I could escape without giving the media the satisfaction of getting a picture of me outside of the church.”
The plan she came up was to exit before the end of the service through a door she’d never used before.
“It turned out there was a reason for that — it didn’t actually exit out but it rather went into the priest’s private residence of the yard,” she said. “I’m standing there in the yard and there’s a fence. I faced a choice: I could either hop the fence or go out the front and give them the picture.”
“I decided in my high heels to climb the fence, so gracefully,” she continued. “When I dropped down on the other side, I see our associate pastor who says, ‘Amy, what are you doing in our vegetable garden?’ He turned out to be a great co-conspirator. Father Dan helped me make my escape.”
SCOTUS Cafeteria
Barrett explained that there is a tradition that junior justices serve on the Supreme Court’s cafeteria committee.
JusticeElena Kagan, she revealed, was responsible for bringing a “fro-yo machine” and Justice Kavanaugh “notably brought pizza to the cafeteria.”
Thanks to what Barrett called “good luck,” the cafeteria was closed because of theCOVID-19 pandemic, and she never had to attend a committee meeting. But she said her suggestion would have been to bring a Starbucks coffee bar to the dining area, which happened anyway during a recent renovation.
“It really is very lovely,” she said of the cafeteria. “And I had nothing to do with it.”
Despite the current offerings, Barrett said the Supreme Court cafeteria “would not be a date night destination or it would be a very brief relationship if it were.”
source: people.com
