Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s Colleagues Know Her As ‘A Brilliant Lawyer, A Genuine And Good Person’

Liberal Law Professor Noah Feldman, With Whom Judge Barrett Served As A Supreme Court Clerk: Judge ‘Barrett Is Highly Qualified,’ ‘A Brilliant And Conscientious Lawyer Who Will Analyze And Decide Cases In Good Faith,’ ‘I’m Going To Be Confident That Barrett Is Going To Be A Good Justice, Maybe Even A Great One’

NOAH FELDMAN, Liberal Harvard Law Professor: “[P]olitical judgments need to be distinguished from a separate question: what to think about Judge Amy Coney Barrett … And here I want to be extremely clear. Regardless of what you or I may think of the circumstances of this nomination, Barrett is highly qualified to serve on the Supreme Court. I disagree with much of her judicial philosophy … Yet despite this disagreement, I know her to be a brilliant and conscientious lawyer who will analyze and decide cases in good faith, applying the jurisprudential principles to which she is committed. Those are the basic criteria for being a good justice. Barrett meets and exceeds them.” (Noah Feldman, “Amy Coney Barrett Deserves to Be on the Supreme Court,” Bloomberg Opinion, 9/26/2020)

• NOAH FELDMAN: “I got to know Barrett more than 20 years ago when we clerked at the Supreme Court during the 1998-99 term. Of the thirty-some clerks that year, all of whom had graduated at the top of their law school classes and done prestigious appellate clerkships before coming to work at the court, Barrett stood out. Measured subjectively and unscientifically by pure legal acumen, she was one of the two strongest lawyers.” (Noah Feldman, “Amy Coney Barrett Deserves to Be on the Supreme Court,” Bloomberg Opinion, 9/26/2020)

• NOAH FELDMAN: “Barrett, a textualist who was working for a textualist, Justice Antonin Scalia, had the ability to bring logic and order to disorder and complexity.” (Noah Feldman, “Amy Coney Barrett Deserves to Be on the Supreme Court,” Bloomberg Opinion, 9/26/2020)

• NOAH FELDMAN: “To add to her merits, Barrett is a sincere, lovely person. I never heard her utter a word that wasn’t thoughtful and kind — including in the heat of real disagreement about important subjects. She will be an ideal colleague…. [I]f you do believe in an ideal judicial temperament of calm and decorum, rest assured that Barrett has it.” (Noah Feldman, “Amy Coney Barrett Deserves to Be on the Supreme Court,” Bloomberg Opinion, 9/26/2020)

• NOAH FELDMAN: “We have a Supreme Court nominee who is a brilliant lawyer, a genuine and good person … And I’m going to be confident that Barrett is going to be a good justice, maybe even a great one — even if I disagree with her all the way.” (Noah Feldman, “Amy Coney Barrett Deserves to Be on the Supreme Court,” Bloomberg Opinion, 9/26/2020)

• NOAH FELDMAN: “[A] Republican is president, and the Senate is Republican. Elections have consequences, and so do justices’ decisions about when or whether to retire…. Given that reality, it is better for the republic to have a principled, brilliant lawyer on the bench than a weaker candidate. That’s Barrett.” (Noah Feldman, “Amy Coney Barrett Deserves to Be on the Supreme Court,” Bloomberg Opinion, 9/26/2020)

Notre Dame Law School Faculty And Leaders: ‘One Of The Most Popular Teachers We Have Ever Had Here At Notre Dame Law School,’ ‘A Principled, Careful Judge, Admired Legal Scholar And Amazing Teacher,’ And ‘A Person Of The Utmost Integrity Who, As A Jurist, Acts First And Foremost In Accord With The Law’

NOTRE DAME PRESIDENT REV. JOHN I. JENKINS, C.S.C: “The same impressive intellect, character and temperament that made Judge Barrett a successful nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals will serve her and the nation equally well as a Justice of the United States Supreme Court… An alumna and a faculty member of Notre Dame Law School, Judge Barrett has epitomized the University’s commitment to teaching, scholarship, justice and service to society. She is a person of the utmost integrity who, as a jurist, acts first and foremost in accord with the law. I join her colleagues in the Law School and across the campus in congratulating her on the nomination, and wish her and her family well through what has become, sadly, a personally bruising confirmation process.” (Notre Dame, Press Release, 9/26/2020)

MARCUS COLE, Notre Dame’s Joseph A. Matson Dean of the Law School: “Judge Amy Coney Barrett is an absolutely brilliant legal scholar and jurist. She is also one of the most popular teachers we have ever had here at Notre Dame Law School. Judge Barrett is incredibly generous with her time and wisdom while mentoring her students. On a personal note, she is one of the most thoughtful, open-minded, considerate and kind people I have ever met. She lives a life of humility and grace, devoted to her family and community. Judge Barrett has served our nation with true distinction from the bench, and would continue to do so if she were confirmed to serve on our nation’s highest court.” (Notre Dame, Press Release, 9/26/2020)

STEPHEN YELDERMAN, Notre Dame Law Professor: “She’s mind-blowingly intelligent, and she’s also one of the most humble people you’re going to meet. Judge Barrett is the complete package.” (“Notre Dame Profs Push Back On Amy Coney Barrett Portrayals: Not Just ‘An Ideological Category,’” South Bend Tribune, 7/23/2020)

NICOLE STELLE GARNETT, Notre Dame Law Professor: “Yes, she is brilliant. And, yes, she is a principled, careful judge, admired legal scholar and amazing teacher. Her respect among her colleagues and students is reflected in the fact that she has been elected professor of the year three times by the law school’s graduating class and in letters of support for her nomination to the 7th Circuit, including ones signed by all of her full-time faculty colleagues at Notre Dame, all of her fellow Supreme Court clerks, hundreds of former students and dozens of prominent law professors from around the country.” (Nicole Stelle Garnett, Op-Ed, “I've Known Amy Coney Barrett For Over 20 Years. Her Intellect And Heart Are Unrivaled,” USA Today, 2/26/2020)

PAOLO CAROZZA, Notre Dame Law Professor: “[P]eople are reducing Amy to an ideological category instead of taking her for who she is: an intelligent, thoughtful, open-minded person.” (“Notre Dame Profs Push Back On Amy Coney Barrett Portrayals: Not Just ‘An Ideological Category,’” South Bend Tribune, 7/23/2020)

Judge Barrett’s Former Students: She Demonstrated ‘The Necessity Of Setting Personal Beliefs Aside When Evaluating The Answer To A Legal Question,’ ‘The Nation Could Not Ask For A More Qualified Candidate Than The Professor We Have Come To Know And Revere,’ ‘We Are Better Women, Friends, And Lawyers For Having Known And Learned From Her’

6 OF JUDGE BARRETT’S FORMER LAW STUDENTS: “We all have had the privilege of being Judge Barrett’s students. While we hold a variety of views regarding how best to interpret statutes and the Constitution, we all agree on this: The nation could not ask for a more qualified candidate than the professor we have come to know and revere.” (Alyson M. Cox, Mary K. Mangan, Megan L. McKeown, Sara A. McQuillen, Audrey A. Moeller, Laura E. Wolk, Op-Ed, “Amy Coney Barrett Was Our Professor. She'll Serve America As Well As She Served Her Students.,” USA Today, 9/27/2020)

• “Barrett is the paragon of a professor. She subjects all her students’ ideas, no matter what interpretive principles they espouse, to rigorous scrutiny. In this way, she has taught us all to think more critically and engage more deeply with the strengths and weaknesses of our own burgeoning legal philosophies.” (Alyson M. Cox, Mary K. Mangan, Megan L. McKeown, Sara A. McQuillen, Audrey A. Moeller, Laura E. Wolk, Op-Ed, “Amy Coney Barrett Was Our Professor. She'll Serve America As Well As She Served Her Students.,” USA Today, 9/27/2020)

• “Barrett also commands her students to treat each other with the utmost respect when engaging in classroom debate. When discussing constitutional law, emotions can run high as law students figure out how to think about and discuss issues of great importance to themselves and to our country. As a professor, Barrett quietly showed us through her example the importance of challenging ideas rather than attacking people, as well as the necessity of setting personal beliefs aside when evaluating the answer to a legal question. Moreover, she takes the time to explicitly remind her students that canonical Supreme Court cases must not be reduced to purely academic exercises, lest we forget that they affect — sometimes radically — the livelihoods of the very human beings before the court.” (Alyson M. Cox, Mary K. Mangan, Megan L. McKeown, Sara A. McQuillen, Audrey A. Moeller, Laura E. Wolk, Op-Ed, “Amy Coney Barrett Was Our Professor. She'll Serve America As Well As She Served Her Students.,” USA Today, 9/27/2020)

• “Perhaps most importantly, Barrett has taught us how to become women of integrity and virtue. She treats every person with whom she interacts with the utmost respect, kindness, and warmth — an example we saw played out in the classroom, in office hours when we came to her for counsel, and in her family home as we shared a meal. Her genuine interest in the personal lives of her students outside the classroom, and the seamless way that she modeled for all of us the integration of her professional and family life, reinforces that there is more to life than the pursuit of professional accolades.” (Alyson M. Cox, Mary K. Mangan, Megan L. McKeown, Sara A. McQuillen, Audrey A. Moeller, Laura E. Wolk, Op-Ed, “Amy Coney Barrett Was Our Professor. She'll Serve America As Well As She Served Her Students.,” USA Today, 9/27/2020)

• “Amy Coney Barrett is a woman of both profound intellect and depth of heart. We are better women, friends, and lawyers for having known and learned from her. She has enriched the lives of all who have come to know her at Notre Dame Law School, and we can only hope that the entire country also will be given the benefit of her example and service.” (Alyson M. Cox, Mary K. Mangan, Megan L. McKeown, Sara A. McQuillen, Audrey A. Moeller, Laura E. Wolk, Op-Ed, “Amy Coney Barrett Was Our Professor. She'll Serve America As Well As She Served Her Students.,” USA Today, 9/27/2020)

KRISTA COX, Former Notre Dame Law Student: “I don’t think she was one to let her own political ideology or Catholicism tint or change the way she approached the law…. My interactions with her in the classroom are just that she was a brilliant legal mind, but she didn’t try to persuade someone to the correct political way to view this.” (“Notre Dame Profs Push Back On Amy Coney Barrett Portrayals: Not Just ‘An Ideological Category,’” South Bend Tribune, 7/23/2020)

• “One of Barrett’s former students, Krista Cox, said she found Barrett to be ‘immensely fair’ when she attended law school about 15 years ago.” (“Notre Dame Profs Push Back On Amy Coney Barrett Portrayals: Not Just ‘An Ideological Category,’” South Bend Tribune, 7/23/2020)