Meet Amy Coney Barrett, The US Supreme Court's Youngest Justice

On October 26, 2020, the US Senate voted 52-48 to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett as the 115th Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The 48-year-old, who was nominated for the lifetime appointment by President Trump on September 26, 2020, will fill the vacancy left behind by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died from complications of pancreatic cancer on September 18, 2020.
Justice Barrett is the youngest person and only the fifth woman to serve on the nation's highest court. The mother of seven children, aged 8 to 19, is also the first female Supreme Court Justice with school-aged children.
During her October 26, 2020, ceremonial constitutional oath ceremony at the White House, Ms. Barrett said, "My fellow Americans, even though we judges don't face elections, we still work for you. It is your Constitution that establishes the rule of law and the judicial independence that is so central to it. The oath that I have solemnly taken tonight means at its core that I will do my job without any fear or favor and that I will do so independently of both the political branches and of my own preferences."

The oldest of seven children, Ms. Barrett grew up in Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans, LA. After graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa — the country's highest academic honor — with an undergraduate degree in English from Rhodes College in 1994, she went on to pursue law on a full-tuition scholarship at Notre Dame Law School.
Ms. Barrett graduated at the top of her class in 1997 and spent the next two years honing her skills as a judicial law clerk for Judge Laurence Silberman of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit and Justice Antonin Scalia of the US Supreme Court. She then joined a boutique law firm specializing in litigation in Washington, DC, before returning to her alma mater, Notre Dame, as a law professor in 2002. Known for her sharp intellect and inclusiveness, Ms. Barrett was extremely popular with students and voted professor of the year multiple times. In 2017, President Trump selected Ms. Barrett to serve as a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, a position she held until her recent appointment to the US Supreme Court.
Resources: Vox.com, Wikipedia.org, NPR.org

Get the Workbook for this article!
Workbook contains: Article, Reading Comprehension, Critical Thinking Questions, Vocabulary in Context (+ answers), Multiple Choice Quiz (+ answers), Parts of Speech Quiz (+ answers), Vocabulary Game (+ answers)Cite Article
127 Comments
- blondie1218Tuesday, February 2, 2021 at 3:13 pmAmazing, nice, wow,cool,happy! It sounds so hard to raise 7 kids plus the supreme court! it sounds just so hard!
- soffiaTuesday, February 2, 2021 at 10:15 amCongrats to her and her family.
- rosie08Saturday, January 23, 2021 at 7:44 amCongratulations to her!! 😁👍🏻🇺🇸
- jhoodytv2Wednesday, January 27, 2021 at 8:51 amnice
- kurzFriday, January 22, 2021 at 8:06 amCongrats to her!!!
- epicgamerrrrWednesday, January 6, 2021 at 10:47 amNot a big fan of her politics at all, but it's cool that someone like her can get in the Supreme Court
- bossira1632Tuesday, December 29, 2020 at 10:22 pmWow cool Amy
- rose11Tuesday, December 29, 2020 at 8:28 pmWow
- marysiahWednesday, December 23, 2020 at 6:33 pmYAY BIDEN
- therealsnakesSunday, December 20, 2020 at 5:54 pmAmazing
- unicorn-rainbowSunday, December 20, 2020 at 5:40 pmI am so proud of Amy, I can't believe she can handle 7 kids plus the supreme court😯.
- blueprincessThursday, January 14, 2021 at 9:41 amI agree, that seems so hard to raise 7 kids!
- marysiahWednesday, December 23, 2020 at 6:34 pmMe 2 I'm a 100% Biden fan and am proud of him.