Within minutes of President Trump’s SCOTUS nomination of Amy Coney Barrett — the US Circuit Court judge with an alarming anti-LGBTQ record of positions and rulings — the Boston-based GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) issued a swift and strong response.
“No matter how this confirmation process proceeds, our collective work for justice must and will continue. We each have the opportunity and responsibility to stay engaged and to fight for the just society we believe in,” wrote GLAD’s Executive Director Janson Wu.
Only days before, in a statement following the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whose seat Trump aims to fill with Barrett, Wu said: “As we mourn her loss and celebrate her incredible legacy, all of us who care about justice and democracy must also fight like hell to defend and expand that legacy.”
Said Wu in his response to the nomination of Barrett:
While it is the job of the president to nominate a justice, and of the Senate to vet and confirm, it is also the design of our democracy that the American people elect the president and the members of the Senate who serve in those roles.
Voting is already under way in this pivotal election, and, as Justice Ginsburg expressed to her granddaughter before her death, nomination of the next Supreme Court justice should be made by the next President. Instead, President Trump is rushing forward in a process that will only create more polarization and division, and cause damage to the credibility of the Court.
The decision of who will take a lifetime seat on our nation’s highest court is of critical importance to all of us, and the U.S. Senate has a responsibility to vet in exacting detail anyone who seeks that role, whether that is Amy Coney Barrett or someone else. This is not a process that should be rushed through for political gain.
Justice Ginsburg leaves a legacy of integrity, disciplined legal thinking, and a conviction that our Constitution is there to protect the rights of all. The next Associate Justice to take her seat should share that commitment to moving us closer to the nation of equals we aspire to be.
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