President Trump’s selection of Amy Coney Barrett to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court is a cap on his campaign’s relentless attempt to woo Catholic voters.
Barrett, a Catholic mother of seven and a graduate of Notre Dame’s law school, began her journey as a favorite in 2017 when Trump nominated her to sit on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and when he subsequently considered her to replace Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court. Trump chose another Catholic instead, Brett Kavanaugh.
The effort by Trump’s reelection campaign to draw in Catholic voters has been targeted and was given clear direction back in April with the launch of the Catholics for Trump coalition. It was not by chance that Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, was asked to give the invocation at the Republican National Convention. Sister Deirdre Byrne, in full habit, made an appearance on another night of the convention and spoke about the need to fight against “a legislative agenda that supports and even celebrates destroying life in the womb.” She later said, “Donald Trump is the most pro-life president that this nation has ever had.”
Trump’s Catholic surrogates want the election, in which his opponent is himself Catholic and a supporter of abortion rights, to be specifically about that issue. Some, including Trump-appointed FEC chairman and Catholic Trey Trainor, have pushed the issue of conscience and suggested that the only morally justifiable vote is one for Trump. “[Bishops] say we should have an informed conscience when we go vote,” Trainor said in an interview. “But they never really take that next step and say, ‘Here’s who meets the criteria.’”
Catholics are by no means a uniform political bloc. Look no further than Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and the millions of Catholic Democrats as evidence of that, but Catholics’ importance as a constituency has been demonstrated in media exit polls showing show that they have been on the side of each presidential victor since 2004. There is a persuadable percentage.
Back to Barrett, her Catholic devotion is one arm of her appeal, but the chance that the court revisits or perhaps even overturns parts of Roe v. Wade probably improves with her on the court, though it’s not clear by how much. The church’s strong position on abortion is unambiguous. For those voters aligned with the church on that issue but leery of voting for Trump on other grounds, Barrett could give him a needed edge.
