US Supreme Court nominee Barrett pledges to follow law, not personal views
Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald Trump's pick for a US Supreme Court vacancy, said she will rule based on the law, not her personal views, in prepared remarks issued on Sunday ahead of her Senate confirmation hearing this week.
Barrett, a conservative appeals court judge, said that in her current job she has "done my utmost to reach the result required by the law, whatever my own preferences might be."
A devout Catholic who has a record of opposing abortion rights, Barrett is likely to be probed by Senate Democrats on that issue in particular. If Barrett is confirmed to the position by the Republican-controlled Senate, the court would have a 6-3 conservative majority. Conservative activists hope the court will overturn the 1973 ruling, Roe v. Wade, that legalized abortion nationwide.
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Trump nominated Barrett to replace liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died last month.
Barrett said in the statement that it will be an "honor of a lifetime" to serve alongside the current eight justices and explained how she approaches cases.
"When I write an opinion resolving a case, I read every word from the perspective of the losing party. I ask myself how would I view the decision if one of my children was the party I was ruling against," she wrote.
Barrett, 48, who has seven children, would be the fifth woman to serve on the court. Before Trump appointed her to the Chicago-based 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals, Barrett was a professor at Notre Dame Law School in Indiana.
