Name: Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation to the Supreme Court met with hope and dread in Connecticut
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Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation to the Supreme Court met with hope and dread in Connecticut

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AdvertisementBy Hartford CourantOct 27, 2020 at 8:09 pmAs the mother of a transgender teen, Edith Barrett of Hartford watched Amy Coney Barrett’s ascension to the U.S. Supreme Court with rising apprehension.“There’s a great fear that we’ll go back to a time that was horrible for LGBT people, when people could be fired from their job because they married someone of the same gender,” said Edith Barrett, a former board member of PFLAG’s Hartford chapter (and no relation to the new justice.)Advertisement“There’s fear in the LGB community and very significant fear in the trans community about their safety,” she added. “All the strides we’ve made could be taken away.”For Edith Barrett, and others across Connecticut, the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to fill the seat left vacant when liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg died last month has raised alarms that the high court’s newly emboldened conservative majority will erode gay rights, weaken gun control laws, undermine the Affordable Care Act and place new restrictions on abortion.AdvertisementBut for others, Monday was a day to celebrate. “I’ve been praying for 15 years for the Supreme Court and the end of abortion,” said Christina Bennett, a Connecticut resident and co-chairwoman of Pro-Life Voices for Trump.“This is the answer to a prayer,” Bennett said. “She represents a different type of feminism [proving] that you don’t have to chose between your career and your children ... and she will be the first pro-life female Supreme Court justice in history.”For weeks, politicians have wrangled over the timing of the vote, with Democrats arguing that the Senate should delay confirming a new justice until after the election and Republicans, who hold a majority of the chamber’s seats, pressing for speedy action.Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat who serves on the Judiciary Committee, called the process leading to Barrett’s confirmation “an illegitimate sham.” Both he and Connecticut’s junior senator, Democrat Chris Murphy, voted no on Monday.“The purpose [of this nomination] is to achieve in the courts what our Republican friends and the radical right and the fringe elements of the Republican Party couldn’t accomplish in the legislatures," Blumenthal said Monday, just before the final vote in the Senate. “They couldn’t achieve in the state legislatures or in the Congress what they now seek do in legislating from the bench through activist judges that will tilt our entire political system against the majority will."David McGuire, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, concurred with the senators that a vote ought to have been delayed.“Recent cases about the Affordable Care Act, abortion rights, voting rights, affirmative action and LGBTQ rights have all come down to a single vote on the Supreme Court, and with a shift as tectonic as this, all may be under threat," he said. “With a court so unbalanced, and likely out of step with the public, attacks on its legitimacy will increase.”Liberal advocacy groups in Connecticut echoed McGuire’s concerns. Barrett’s confirmation “is just another component of the Trump-Pence administration’s strategy to push an extremist ideological agenda,” Liz Gustafson, state director of NARAL Pro-Choice Connecticut, said last week.Advertisement“Supreme Court rulings rule people’s lives,” she added, and placing Barrett on the court is "detrimental to our freedoms and our futures.”Jeremy Stein, executive director of CT Against Gun Violence, said he worries Barrett will side with those who want to undo state-level gun control laws. “Our concern is that she will forget one of the major [tenets of the Constitution]: the power of states to govern and keep their citizens safe," Stein said.Barrett has only issued one ruling related to gun control, Stein said, but it suggested to him that she wants the courts, not state legislatures, to decide “who should have guns and who shouldn’t.”LGBT advocates say Barrett’s record suggests she may support a rollback of protections. During her confirmation hearing, she refused to endorse Obergefell v. Hodeges, the 2015 case that led to the legalization of same-sex marriage nationwide.“I am terribly worried about the rights of LGBT folks,” said Evelyn Mantilla, president of the board of True Colors, an advocacy and support group for sexual minority youth and their families. “The new justice will definitely tip the court towards the right and will embolden more people to go after our rights.”Mantilla said she is particularly concerned about LGBTQ youth. “This feels like a setback that could push some of them back into the closet,” she said.AdvertisementBut John Scott, a former Republican state representative from Mystic, said he doubts gay marriage would be repealed.“Things that have been settled by Supreme Court rulings often don’t get revisited,” Scott said, adding that he is not aware of any pending cases aimed at invalidating gay marriage.Scott, who married his partner of 20 years on Christmas Day in 2015, suggested Democrats were sounding alarms to gin up the party’s base.“Every time the Republican Party [nominates] ... a justice, there is an over the top reaction to the whole thing that I don’t think is appropriate,” he said. “We have the government that the people of this country chose and they can fill the vacancy on the court."Daniela Altimari can be reached at dnaltimari@courant.com. 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AdvertisementBy Hartford CourantOct 27, 2020 at 8:09 pmAs the mother of a transgender teen, Edith Barrett of Hartford watched Amy Coney Barrett’s ascension to the U.S. Supreme Court with rising apprehension.“There’s a great fear that we’ll go back to a time that was horrible for LGBT people, when people could be fired from their job because they married someone of the same gender,” said Edith Barrett, a former board member of PFLAG’s Hartford chapter (and no relation to the new justice.)Advertisement“There’s fear in the LGB community and very significant fear in the trans community about...

Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation to the Supreme Court met with hope and dread in Connecticut

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