How it happened: From law professor to high court in 4 years
Associated PressWASHINGTON — Four years ago, Amy Coney Barrett was a little-known law professor in Indiana. For Trump, whose 2016 victory was bolstered by white evangelicals’ reluctant support of his candidacy tied to his promise to fill the seat vacated by the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia with a conservative, the latest nomination brings his first term full circle. After Barrett was confirmed 55-43, with three Democrats voting to confirm, some White House lawyers made coffee mugs with the phrase: “The dogma lives loudly within you.” Months later, in the fall of 2017, Trump set about updating his list of potential nominees to the Supreme Court. Trump and McGahn set about elevating Barrett’s profile for the next opening on the high court –- with Trump telling some aides he was “saving” her for Ginsburg’s seat. “Today it is my honor to nominate one of our nation’s most brilliant and gifted legal minds to the Supreme Court,” Trump said of Barrett, calling her “a woman of unparalleled achievement, towering intellect, sterling credentials and unyielding loyalty to the Constitution.” Barrett, for her part, thanked the president as she introduced herself to the country.