Was Amy Coney Barrett Trump's Biggest Mistake?

Amy Coney Barrett, one of President Donald Trump's nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court, has voted against him in key cases, including a March 5 decision to stop his cancellations of USAID contracts.

Why It Matters

Trump has a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court, including three judges he nominated during his first term.

Coney Barrett has voted against Trump on a range of issues that impact wide areas of U.S. life.

What To Know

Coney Barrett has voted against Trump, partially or fully, on key Supreme Court cases.

These include:

USAID

On March 5, the Supreme Court compelled the Trump administration to pay nearly $2 billion to USAID contractors.

Coney Barrett provided the key vote, siding with the three liberal justices and Chief Justice John Roberts to hand the Trump administration a major loss.

Hush Money Case

Trump is the first former president to be convicted of a crime after a New York jury found that he illegally covered up payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

The day before his sentencing in January, he took a case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a 5-4 decision, the court allowed Trump's sentencing to proceed. Roberts and Coney Barrett broke with their fellow conservative justices to side with the three liberal-leaning justices.

January 6 Capitol Riot

Coney Barrett dissented from her conservative colleagues in Fischer v. United States, a 2024 case that narrowed the scope of the federal obstruction statute used in many of the January 6 prosecutions.

Barrett accusing the court majority of doing "textual backflips" to narrow the relevant statute.

She also emphasized that Congress could not have anticipated Trump supporters' January 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.

"Statutes often go further than the problem that inspired them, and under the rules of statutory interpretation, we stick to the text anyway," she wrote. "The Court, abandoning that approach, does textual backflips to find some way—any way—to narrow the reach of subsection (c)(2). I respectfully dissent."

Insurrectionist Case

In March 2024, the court ruled unanimously that Trump could stay on the Colorado ballot in the 2024 presidential election.

A group of voters claimed Trump was an "insurrectionist" because of his alleged role in the January 6 riot. Under Section 3 of the Constitution's 14th Amendment, insurrectionists are banned from holding federal office.

However, Coney Barrett refused to join the conservative majority in laying out in great detail why Trump was constitutionally entitled to run for the presidency.

"I join Parts I and II–B of the Court's opinion. I agree that States lack the power to enforce Section 3 against presidential candidates. That principle is sufficient to resolve this case, and I would decide no more than that," she wrote.

She urged calm and asked that the court not use any inflammatory language during an election season.

Presidential Immunity

Barrett broke with the conservative majority in the groundbreaking July 1, 2024, ruling on presidential immunity.

The case emerged after Trump challenged his indictment for allegedly trying to illegally overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election.

The court majority, led by Roberts, ruled that a president's official acts can't be shown to a jury as evidence of a crime.

Barrett disagreed.

"A president facing prosecution may challenge the constitutionality of a criminal statute as applied to official acts alleged in the indictment," she wrote. "If that challenge fails, however, he must stand trial."

What People Are Saying

Steve Bannon, host of the War Room conservative podcast and former Trump adviser, told Newsweek in January: "Barrett is a disgrace. A total disgrace. It's a total sham. All you're doing is empowering these Banana Republic judges and courts to go after future presidents."

Dave Hale, an anti-Trump Republican, on X, formerly Twitter: "No, Amy Coney Barrett didn't become 'woke.' The President just happens to be a wannabe-dictator, and she did her job. Pretty simple."

What Happens Next

There are more than a dozen challenges to Trump's executive orders currently before the federal courts and several are expected to reach the Supreme Court, where Coney Barrett could play a pivotal role in deciding their outcome.