Justice Amy Coney Barrett is charting her own path on the bench
With piercing questions and a willingness to break ranks with fellow conservatives, the justice played a new role in her fourth term.
The dissent was biting, accusing the Supreme Court’s conservative majority of “feeble” and “cherry-picked” arguments that inaccurately downplayed the Environmental Protection Agency’s role in protecting air quality. Of course, all three liberal justices signed on. But the writer was a conservative nominated by President Donald Trump: Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who charted a distinctive path during her breakout fourth term on the high court. With piercing questions from the bench, and a willingness to break ranks with other Republican nominees in an era of conservative dominance on the court, Barrett played a new role this term — calling for a pragmatic, incremental approach to some cases in which her colleagues wanted to move more aggressively. “She is an independent mind at work on a court that often falls into camps — and that’s refreshing to see,” said Deepak Gupta, a Washington lawyer who tracks the court’s work. “The justice to watch,” said Melissa Murray, a New York University law professor and co-host of a liberal podcast about the court called “Strict Scrutiny.”
More From The Washington Post (subscription required):