After the late feminist icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in mid-September, President Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett as the Supreme Court justice that would fill the vacancy. Barrett went through four days of confirmation hearings, and on Oct. 26 she was sworn in as the fifth woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court.

The process to nominate a court justice is no easy feat. The president will make the nomination, this usually comes after discussing nominees with senators. From there, the Senate Judiciary Committee will examine the nomination for consideration. This will come to the confirmation hearings. The nominee will be questioned about judgment, philosophy and qualification. After the hearing, it’ll be sent to the Senate to be passed.

Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation hearing lasted over the span of four days. She was questioned about policies, current issues, and her stance, most of which Barrett did not answer. She avoided questions regarding climate change, the Affordable Care Act, LGBTQ+ equality, police brutality and more. Refusing to answer, she told the hearing she was following the Ginsburg rule of “No hints, previews and no forecast.” 

There was also a lot of controversy regarding Barrett’s nomination. One of the big factors that many Republican senators were reminded of their words from the 2016 election. Eight months before election day in 2016, there was a vacancy in the court while Obama was president. Many Republican senators, like Lindsey Graham, were seen saying that the next president should choose the nomination since the race had already started. With Barrett’s nomination, they had sworn in the candidate eight days before the election. 

Across America it has been called that after the election, President Trump will call voter fraud. And with that, it could end up in the Supreme Court’s lap leading for the court to pick the next president. It also caused controversy because it was RBG’s wish to let the next president choose the court nomination. It was a hot topic of debate in the second presidential election.

And since then, Democrats have criticized her legitimacy as a nominee since she was voted in without the presence of any Democratic senators. 

Amy Coney Barrett is the new Supreme Court Justice and there are many minorities worried about their rights being rolled back. And even though we never know how a justice will rule in their lifetime role in the Supreme Court, many people are hoping that their rights will be protected in the highest court of the land.