“It doesn’t matter what her faith is, what religion she believes in. What matters is does she believe in the Constitution of the United States,” said Pelosi during an interview on CNN’s “State of Union,” when asked about Democrats’ criticism that Barrett’s Catholic faith might influence her court decisions.
“I think it’s appropriate for people to ask her about how faithful she would be to the Constitution of the United States, whatever her faith,” Pelosi told host Jake Tapper. “Does she believe in the precedent on the Supreme Court that has upheld the Affordable Care Act?”
A former law professor at Notre Dame University and current judge on the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Barrett was nominated by President Donald Trump to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Barrett identifies as a “faithful Catholic” and had said that although she takes her religious beliefs seriously, they do not “bear in discharge” of her duty as a judge.
“We have many judges, both state and federal, across the country who have sincerely held religious views and still impartially and honestly discharge their obligations as a judge,” Barrett said at the time. “And were I confirmed as a judge, I would decide cases according to rule of law, beginning to end, and in the rare circumstance that might ever arise—I can’t imagine one sitting here now—where I felt that I had some conscientious objection to the law, I would recuse.”
Similar questions centered around Barrett’s religion were brought up by Democrats once again when Trump eyed the judge as his pick to replace Ginsburg on the high court.
