SAF APPLAUDS NOMINATION OF AMY CONEY BARRETT TO U.S. SUPREME COURT

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation strongly supports President Donald Trump’s nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“Judge Barrett is eminently qualified to take a seat on the highest court in the nation,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Our research shows her to be an outstanding candidate and we hope the U.S. Senate can quickly vote to confirm her.”

In 2017, the American Bar Association’s Committee on the Federal Judiciary found Amy Coney Barrett to be “well qualified” for a judgeship with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. According to the Senate Republican Communications Center, former colleagues of Judge Barrett at the Notre Dame Law School consider her a “brilliant teacher and scholar” with an “absolute dedication to the rule of law.”

“When Donald Trump took office,” Gottlieb recalled, “one of his most important campaign pledges was to bring balance to the federal court system, nominating judges, and Supreme Court justices, with solid constitutional credentials. We’re delighted to say he’s certainly kept his promise, and in Judge Barrett, we think the president has offered a nominee with impeccable credentials. To say we are impressed would be an understatement.

“We especially admire her dissent last year in Kanter v. Barr,” he added. “Her argument that some non-violent felons should not forever lose their Second Amendment rights was totally in line with a ruling in our Third Circuit in Binderup v. Attorney General of the United States, which was successfully brought by the Second Amendment Foundation.

“I join SAF founder Alan Gottlieb in endorsing President Trump’s appointment of Judge Barrett to the highest Court,” said SAF President Massad Ayoob. “The incumbent President has clearly made his choice on the basis of the best possible candidate, who happened to be female while his challenger has blatantly stated that he makes such critical choices based on race and gender. Thus far, President Trump’s strongest fulfillment of his promise to support the Second Amendment has been seen in his SCOTUS appointments.  ‘One-issue voters’ are really ‘litmus test voters.’ 

“None of us citizens can possibly become experts on every issue facing America’s decision-makers,” Ayoob continued. “But most of us are deeply aware of the critical points in at least one issue, whether it is farm subsidies, health care, or in this case gun owners’ civil rights.  How those we elect (and those they appoint) assess and take positions on those issues well-known to us tells us whether or not we can trust them and their staffs to analyze all other matters and make the right decisions.  In the matter of gun owners’ civil rights, both President Trump and Judge Barrett ‘pass the litmus test.'”

Judge Barrett is President Trump’s third nominee to the high court, a remarkable opportunity for any president. 

“We call on the Senate Judiciary Committee to give Judge Barrett a fair hearing,” Gottlieb said. “We are confident that when she is confirmed to fill the high court vacancy, Amy Coney Barrett will make this country proud.”