The appointment of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the United States Supreme Court counts as a masterstroke, and easily one of the best decisions of Donald Trump’s presidency.

In an election season when liberals and media try to characterize conservatives as old, angry, bigoted, extreme and lacking in empathy, Judge Barrett displays the opposite characteristics. At age 48, she’s youthful, a genial consensus builder, and mother of seven--including a special needs child and two adopted kids from Haiti.

On a court dominated for decades by Yale and Harvard graduates, she’s a breath of Midwestern fresh air, beloved by her students at Notre Dame.

Most importantly, she’ll give new life to the originalist thinking of her mentor, Justice Antonin Scalia, in stressing what the Constitution actually says, not what judges want it to say. As Americans have been losing faith in public institutions, Judge Barrett—soon to be Justice Barrett—can help to restore their confidence.

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The Bible tells us to pray for “all those in authority,” and we ought to be praying with real urgency with the knowledge that President Donald Trump has contracted the coronavirus and was taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to receive treatment and care. Anytime the nation’s Chief Executive needs medical treatment, it is big news. In this case it is especially big news because the virus’s path is not always clear and the nation is also facing a presidential election less than one month from now.

Thankfully, the President is receiving the best medical care in the nation, and he is reported to be responding well to treatment.

Our nation invests so much power and responsibility in our president. Americans, whatever their politics, must join in common concern and prayer for the President’s full recovery, and for the First Lady, Melania Trump, who has also tested positive for the virus. There is far more at stake here than politics. Pray!

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The newly popular charge that America suffers from “systemic racism” ignores the realities of how our current system of law, politics, business and culture really works.

In legal terms, racism has been illegal for 50 years now with bans on discrimination in hiring, housing, education and much more. Yes, racist attitudes still exist, but the system and our culture now work against them, not for them.

In politics, 12 percent of the House of Representatives is now black—closely matching the black percentage of the population, and the nation twice elected a black President. In business, discrimination not only violates the law but hurts the bottom line, in hiring and customers, when 40 percent of America identifies as non-white.

Finally, a striking explosion of black creativity and success characterizes our culture, while open expressions of bigotry lead to disgrace and even ostracism. The American system has changed profoundly—far from imposing racism, it now strives to eliminate it.

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Anti-Catholic bigotry has no place in the confirmation hearings of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to serve as Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court.

It was the liberal scholar Father James Martin who wrote 20 years ago about the bane that is anti-Catholicism. It's often called the “last acceptable prejudice.” It isn’t acceptable. Not then. And not now.

The country may be about to see who among us still harbors this prejudice.

In the 2017 confirmation hearing for Barrett, Senator Diane Feinstein infamously said to the judge, “the dogma lives loudly within you.”

This open attack on Barrett’s beliefs was roundly and rightly condemned. It should not be repeated.

When it comes to a nominee’s faith—or lack of it—Article VI of the United States Constitution makes it clear: “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”

That’s an absolute prohibition in the Constitution, and any senator who violates it should be ashamed—and shamed.

Judge Amy Coney Barrett ought to have a respectful hearing—and a quick confirmation.

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Tuesday night’s presidential debate was a study in contrasts: The accomplishments of a president over the last 47 months, against a politician who’s been in politics for 47 years.

Two more presidential debates are scheduled in the coming weeks, and the task for President Trump is clear: He must continue to emphasize his accomplishments while sharing more with the American people about his plans for the next four years.

The president has plans to lower the cost of health care and make our health care system more accessible and transparent; plans to lower taxes for middle-income Americans, while continuing to cut red tape for job creators and entrepreneurs; and plans to hold China accountable for its misdeeds and address other geopolitical challenges around the world.

Looking ahead, President Trump should spend more time emphasizing these plans and talking about where he would lead the country in a second term. That’s a recipe for winning not only the debates and the undecided voter—but perhaps the election too.

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What happens now? President Trump made history by nominating Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. That is fantastic news. But now the scene shifts to the United States Senate. The rules of the Senate call for hearings before the Judiciary Committee. Watch for those in coming weeks—and expect a political blockbuster.

Then, the committee votes to move the nomination to the floor of the Senate. That, too, will be a fight. Then Senate debate and the big event—the vote. It will be a battle at every turn, and Democrats will try their best to slow it down. Republicans must keep up the heat, and see it through to the end—the future of the Supreme Court is at stake.

We need Judge Barrett on the Supreme Court now.

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Democrats and the media are attacking Republicans for pushing ahead with a new Supreme Court nominee while, allegedly, dragging their feet on a coronavirus relief bill.

There’s just one problem: the coronavirus bill put forward by Democrats is a dangerous expansion of the federal government that puts our economy at even more risk of fiscal collapse.

Though we don’t hear about it much anymore, the United States’ debt-to-GDP ratio has increased dramatically in the 21st century. When George W. Bush took office, we had a debt ratio of under 60 percent. Today, we have a debt ratio of over 100 percent—107 percent to be precise.

In simple English, that means our government owes more than our entire economy produces in a year. America simply cannot afford more of these immense spending bills.

Republicans are right to reject the Democrat’s short-sighted, ridiculous proposal. Imagine the spending binge if Democrats gain the presidency too.

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President Trump’s nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett as the next justice of the United States Supreme Court is very good news for conservatives, and for the entire nation.

Judge Barrett is exactly what we need on the nation’s highest court—a judge committed to and originalist reading of the text of the United States Constitution. Judge Barrett is a constitutional scholar of the first rank, and President Trump was wise to appoint her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit.

The news of her elevation to the Supreme Court will make history. Judge Barrett understands the sanctity of human life, the majesty of the law, and the rightful role of a judge.

She belongs on the Supreme Court.

It’s going to be a fight in the Senate. It’s up to Republicans in the upper chamber to get the job done—and get it done now.

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This is Michael Medved at michaelmedved.com for Townhall.

In their furious reaction to confirmation plans for a successor to the late Justice Ginsburg, Democrats insist it’s all about timing. But even if she’d passed, or resigned, two years earlier, would Democrats offer more cooperation in approving a successor? Gorsuch and Kavanaugh were both appointed years ahead of any presidential contest but still drew near-unanimous Democratic opposition.

Meanwhile, Republicans made no similar attempts to destroy Democratic nominees, giving bi-partisan support to Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Stephen Breyer and, yes, Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Why the contrast?

Democrats view the judiciary as a political branch of government—for enacting progressive reforms that lack popular support for legislative action. Their resulting politicization of the confirmation process makes the judiciary the target of narrow and destructive partisanship.

I’m Michael Medved.

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To those who saw her as a feminist icon of liberal causes, she was the notorious RBG. To conservatives, she was a formidable foe, the leader of the liberal wing of the Supreme Court. Ruth Bader Ginsburg fought incredibly hard against several cancers, but she lost her battle Friday evening in Washington, DC. She was 87 years old and had served on the nation’s highest court for 27 years.

Justice Ginsburg’s legacy is one of the main debates and dividing lines between the cultural left and the right in the United States on issues, including abortion. And her death sets up an epic battle for the future of the Supreme Court, and right as the presidential election was already hitting fever pitch. Both sides know that this will be a battle to define the court for a generation or more November 3rd, now looms even larger.

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