Noah Feldman, Columnist

Amy Coney Barrett Deserves to Be on the Supreme Court

I disagree with Trump's judicial nominee on almost everything. But I still think she's brilliant.

Barrett meets and exceeds the basic criteria for being a good justice.

Photographer: Robert Franklin/South Bend Tribune

Like many other liberals, I’m devastated by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, which opened the way for President Donald Trump to nominate a third Supreme Court justice in his first term. And I’m revolted by the hypocrisy of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s willingness to confirm Trump’s nominee after refusing to even allow a vote on Judge Merrick Garland.

Yet these political judgments need to be distinguished from a separate question: what to think about Judge Amy Coney Barrett, whom Trump has told associates he plans to nominate. And here I want to be extremely clear. Regardless of what you or I may think of the circumstances of this nomination, Barrett is highly qualified to serve on the Supreme Court.