The inspiring family story of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett

National Post, 02 October 2020

Barrett and her husband have seven children, including two adopted from Haiti and one with Down syndrome.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett, if confirmed for the American Supreme Court, will strike a blow for diversity. She will be the only justice not to have gone to Harvard or Yale. The late Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg were famous for being friends across their judicial divide, but they had a good basis for friendship — they both grew up in Brooklyn. Indeed, there were recently four justices from New York City alone, and another from Buffalo for a clear New York State majority. A sixth came from across the river in Jersey.

But the real demographic diversity that Judge Barrett will bring is as a mother of young children and teenagers. She will be the first ever mother on the court to have children in school.

The late Justice Ginsburg once said that she “had it all — just not all at the same time.” Barrett is nearly 40 years younger than Ginsburg, and her generation has taken a step farther down the trail that Ginsburg and her sisters blazed. Barrett does have it all, at the same time — not unlike some men have managed for a long time. Of course, neither Ginsburg nor Barrett are typical of most women — or of most men, for that matter. Typical is not the goal for high court justices.

Barrett and her husband, Jesse, have seven children and there is an inspiring story to tell in that family. In a dispiriting week in American politics, a measure of inspiration is welcome.

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