Justice Amy Coney Barrett says she wants to build confidence in institutions like the U.S. Supreme Court.
“I love the court and I love the Constitution, and I want to share it with people," Barrett said during a visit to the University of Notre Dame on Friday. "I want to invite people in. And I think it’s easier to have confidence in institutions when you understand them and you know what happens in them.”
Barrett discussed her new book, “Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court and Constitution.” Friday’s discussion touched on some of the Supreme Court’s major decisions and her “originalist” interpretation of the Constitution. Barrett said a judge’s role is to look at the law, not their own sense of what’s fair, sensible or moral. She pointed to the death penalty, as an example.
"It’s a situation in which, you know, I am Catholic and I accept the Church’s teaching about the death penalty, but I sit on death penalty cases," Barrett said. "And I don’t allow my views about the death penalty to affect what I think the law requires."
She suggested that those opposed to an originalist interpretation seek change through the democratic process, not the courts.
Concerns about recent political violence were front and center during Friday’s event. Justice Barrett called on people to have disagreements “in a civil and collegial way.”
“I think that, too often, when I look around the country – I mean, political violence is the most grotesque symptom of it, but there are others too, just in online conversations and the way that people treat those with whom they disagree," Barrett said.
She said she personally feels safe with her security team, but she didn’t appreciate the loss of freedom that comes with being a Supreme Court justice until she started the job.
Barrett said she doesn’t think her experience as a student and professor at Notre Dame impacts how she approaches Supreme Court cases, but she said it did make her a “different kind of person.” “And therefore, I think I think about my contributions to the law, to society, thinking about my job as a form of public service," Barrett said. "I think all of those things, Notre Dame has shaped who I am.”
Barrett did not take questions from reporters, but students were allowed to submit questions to be asked by the moderator.
