Notre Dame faculty in open letter ask Barrett to ‘halt’ nomination process

Faculty members of the University of Notre Dame wrote a letter asking Amy Coney Barrett to “halt” her Supreme Court nomination process until after the November presidential election. 

In an open letter to Barrett, the faculty noted her nomination comes amid a tense 2020 election in which voters are already casting ballots.

More than 11 million ballots have been cast in the 2020 election, according to data from the United States Election Project.

The members noted the “rushed nature” of the nomination process, which “may effectively deprive the American people of a voice in selecting the next Supreme Court justice.”

“You are not, of course, responsible for the anti-democratic machinations driving your nomination,” the letter read before mentioning Senate Republicans’ refusal to take up former President Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland during the 2016 presidential election.

The letter also stated that stopping the confirmation process now would fulfill Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dying wish to leave her seat on the bench open until after the November election.  

They pointed out that Barrett said Ginsburg was “a woman of enormous talent and consequence, whose life of public service serves as an example to us all” when her nomination was announced by President Trump at the White House.

The faculty stated that the confirmation process will “further inflame our civic wounds, undermine confidence in the court, and deepen the divide among ordinary citizens.”

None of the faculty members that signed on to the letter were from Notre Dame Law School, where Barrett was a professor and an alumna.

Barrett received the blessing of Notre Dame Law School on the day of her nomination and unanimous endorsements from all of her Notre Dame colleagues for her nomination to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2017. 

Confirmation hearings on Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court began on Monday.