U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett has come under significant criticism from right-wing commentators and some Republican officials following her recent votes in two closely watched cases involving voting procedures and birthright citizenship.
On Monday, Justice Barrett joined Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and the court’s liberal justices to reject efforts to impose stricter limitations on mail-in voting practices. This decision directly opposed a key component of former President Donald Trump’s agenda, which claimed without evidence that mail-in ballots were a significant factor in his 2020 election loss. The ruling allowed states to continue accepting mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day for several days afterward, as in the case of Mississippi’s law permitting ballots to arrive up to five days late.
The following day, in a 5-4 decision, Barrett again broke from the conservative bloc to uphold birthright citizenship rights. This ruling disputed attempts by some on the right to curtail automatic citizenship conferred to individuals born in the United States, a position supported by the Trump administration.
Barrett’s votes sparked a backlash from conservative commentators, pundits, and some Republican lawmakers. Criticism ranged from accusations of betrayal of the party’s priorities to calls for her removal from the Supreme Court bench. Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina, known for her far-right views, publicly urged that Barrett be impeached, a process outlined in the Constitution but rarely pursued against Supreme Court justices.
Right-wing voices on social media expressed strong disapproval. Matt Walsh, a conservative commentator, disparaged Barrett as a poor selection, drawing unfavorable comparisons to Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the court’s only liberal Black justice. Former Fox News host Megyn Kelly labeled Barrett a “turncoat” for siding with liberals on pivotal issues. Similarly, Senator Eric Schmitt of Missouri and Representative Abe Hamadneh of Arizona criticized Barrett’s vote on mail-in voting, warning that it would undermine the integrity of elections.
Despite the predominantly harsh feedback from the right, some conservative commentators defended Barrett’s decisions. Fox News legal analyst Jonathan Turley described her as an independent-minded jurist who, while conservative, evaluates cases on their merits rather than strictly following partisan lines.
Amy Coney Barrett, who was nominated by Trump to fill the seat left by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2020, has been a key figure in the court’s conservative shift. She joined the majority in landmark rulings overturning the constitutional right to abortion and striking down affirmative action programs in higher education. However, her recent votes indicate a willingness to diverge from expectations held by some conservative factions, highlighting the complex dynamics within the court and the broader political landscape.