Amy Coney Barrett confirmed to SCOTUS: Shelby votes ‘aye,’ Jones ‘no’

The United States Senate on Monday evening voted 52-48 to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court of the United States.

U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) voted in the affirmative after supporting Barrett in a floor speech hours earlier; U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) voted “no.”

“I am proud to have voted to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to serve as an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court,” stated Shelby after the vote. “Throughout my career in the Senate, I have never seen a more eminently qualified judicial nominee. Not only has she demonstrated a deep commitment to the Constitution and its protections established by our Founding Fathers, but she has also displayed incredible integrity, humility, and impartiality. I am confident she will serve our country with honor on our nation’s highest court.”

This comes after Shelby met with Barrett last month following her nomination by President Donald Trump to serve on the Supreme Court. In contrast, Jones did not meet with Barrett and admitted he did not even watch her confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Alabama’s junior senator also voted on Sunday against even considering Barrett’s nomination.

Barrett currently serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. She clerked for the late Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, as well as Judge Laurence Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Before and while serving on the federal bench, she was a professor of law at Notre Dame Law School.

Reports indicate that Barrett will be publicly sworn in by Associate Justice Clarence Thomas at a White House ceremony on Monday night; she will then be administered the full oath of office by Chief Justice John Roberts in a private ceremony on Tuesday.

Reaction pours in from across Alabama

Following the confirmation vote, Alabama elected officials and candidates quickly made their thoughts clear.

Governor Kay Ivey (R-AL) immediately released a statement supporting the result of the vote. Ivey had been a vocal supporter of Barrett throughout the process.

Ivey’s full Monday statement as follows:

I applaud the swift Senate confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court of the United States,” Ivey said on Monday evening.

Amy Coney Barrett’s willingness to serve, despite a hostile political environment, is proof of her strong character and a testament to her commitment to upholding the laws of our country for future generations.

Previous suggestions from progressives that we need to fundamentally change the court system is a clear attempt at a political power grab to load the bench with judicial activists, not arbiters of the law. In the words of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, ‘Nine seems to be a good number…it would be that – one side saying – when we’re in power, we’re going to enlarge the number of judges, so we would have more people who would vote the way we want them to.’

I thank the president for this extraordinary selection. It is evident that President Trump has put forward a woman who is arguably one of the most qualified picks during the past century. Alabama looks forward to Justice Barrett serving our country with honor and integrity for decades to come. It is my hope and prayer that despite political differences, we can celebrate the tremendous accomplishments of our newest Supreme Court Justice, come together as a nation and continue achieving great success.

Today is a great day for our country and a signal to every little girl – and boy – that the most qualified individual will get the job.

Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth (R-AL) also made his thoughts known in a tweet right after the vote.

Congratulations to Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Her presence on the Supreme Court will help our efforts to protect the unborn, preserve the 2nd Amendment, and keep God in the public square. #SCOTUS pic.twitter.com/uiLKeUKANp

— Will Ainsworth (@willainsworthAL) October 27, 2020

Additionally, Attorney General Steve Marshall (R-AL) released a statement following Barrett’s Senate confirmation.

Marshall’s full statement as follows:

Tonight, America’s highest court has gained another justice committed to faithfully interpreting and applying the law as it was written—to safeguarding, not rewriting, the crown jewel of our republic, the Constitution of the United States.

It is fitting that Judge Barrett, a former clerk and protégé of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, will be the jurist who fulfills Justice Scalia’s mission: to return to the Supreme Court judicial fidelity to the law.

This is a truly historic day for our country’s legal system—and, more importantly, for our country itself. At long last, the decades-long advance of judicial activism will soon be in retreat.

I applaud President Trump for what he has been able to accomplish—in only his first term in office—by fulfilling his promise to fill judicial vacancies with judges committed to judging, not legislating from the bench. The President’s judicial nominations have changed the direction of not only our nation’s highest court, but of courts at all levels across the country, and brought about a renewed national focus on honoring the rule of law and the Constitution.

Justice Scalia once concluded an opinion with this sobering statement: ‘Day by day, case by case, (the Supreme Court) is busy designing a Constitution for a country I do not recognize.’ How happy he would have been to know that, merely four years after he left us, his Court would have a majority of justices devoted to faithfully interpreting our Constitution, not inventing a new one.

Both Ainsworth and Marshall had been strong supporters of Barrett’s nomination process throughout the process, as well.

Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn