Seated just before the 2020 presidential election, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, the newest Supreme Court justice, has developed an almost predominantly conservative voting record in cases surrounding abortion, health care, same-sex marriage, immigration, and more. In 2021, with the new conservative majority, more votes could be aligned with the addition of Barrett.

Here are some key issues Coney Barrett could help to decide in the coming weeks and years.

Healthcare

Healthcare was a topic that was highlighted by the democratic party in the hearings to confirm Barrett to the court. With the late justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) as a judge in 2012, the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act by a 5-to-4 vote. Barrett has now replaced RBG, and is in a situation that could cause 21 million Americans to lose their health care.  Barrett has attacked this ruling. However, during this pandemic we need the Affordable Care Act now more than ever. 

Abortion Rights

Barrett has signed her name to a 2006 newspaper ad opposing “abortion on demand.” 66% of Americans say Roe v. Wade should not be overturned. 

Same-Sex Marriage

According to National Public Radio in 2017, “Same-Sex Marriage Support [is] At [an] All-Time High, Even Among Groups That Opposed It.” Barrett has expressed doubt about this topic, suggesting that she could provide a fifth vote to revoke the 2015 decision creating a national right to same-sex marriage. In November, The New York Times reported that two SCOTUS judges, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, recommended the court reconsider the same-sex marriage ruling.

Immigration

Barrett has mostly sided with the Trump administration on immigration issues. Barrett helped push one of Trump’s primary immigration initiatives as an appeals court judge. In a case involving Trump’s strategy of implementing a wealth test on the millions of immigrants who want to migrate to the United States annually, she sided with his administration. She explained her opinion in her 40-page long dissent in that case, on why the U.S. has the right to block individuals it considers likely to become dependent on government aid in the future. 

It is irrational and ridiculous to say that it does not matter what a judge decides to vote for or against. Based on her Senate confirmation hearings alone, there is adequate proof that Amy Coney Barrett could behave in ways that are opposed to how the majority of Americans think in 2020, including how they view same-sex marriage, womens’ reproductive rights and access to affordable healthcare.

She should not be a Supreme Court Justice because my life, your life, our lives, and everything we have ever known is now in her trembling hands.