Judge Amy Coney Barrett is now an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Senate vote, completed minutes ago, was 52-48. Justice Barrett will take her place on the Court as soon as she is sworn in, which should be tomorrow. I understand that Justice Clarence Thomas will swear her in.
Donald Trump has now appointed three of the nine current justices, and, if re-elected (as I expect he will be), should get two or three more appointments before he leaves office in January 2025. Justices Thomas, Sotomayor, and Breyer are the most likely to leave the Court, through retirement or death.
Seven of the nine justices (Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Sotomayor, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett) are Roman Catholic (or, in the case of Neil Gorsuch, were raised in the Roman Catholic Church). Two justices (Breyer and Kagan) are Jewish. There are no Protestants.
Only one justice (Barrett) attended a non-Ivy League law school (Notre Dame).
There are three women (Sotomayor, Kagan, and Barrett) on the Court.
There is one African-American (Thomas) and one Hispanic (Sotomayor) on the Court.
Chief Justice John Roberts is no longer the swing vote. It used to be that he could go with the four "conservatives" or the four "liberals," forming a majority. Now the five "conservatives" can form a majority without him. I expect a lot of 6-3 opinions in which Roberts joins the five "conservatives" so that he can write the majority opinion.
Roe v. Wade, the 1973 abortion case, will be overruled. It was a mistake when it was decided and it is still a mistake. This will put the issue of abortion back where it belongs, with the states. Some states will have liberal abortion laws and some, such as Texas, will impose restrictions.
I said when I voted for Donald Trump in 2016 that I wanted two things from him. I wanted him to defeat the harridan Hillary Clinton, which was accomplished, and I wanted him to give the country a "conservative" Supreme Court. He has given me everything I want and more.
