WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 26, 2020—Russell Moore, president of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, commented on President Donald Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett:
“I have long respected Judge Barrett, not only as a highly accomplished jurist but also as an adoptive parent active in the advocacy for adoption and for special needs children. As she goes before the Senate Judiciary Committee, I’m confident she will lay out a thoughtful defense of commitment to the constitution and the proper limits of judicial authority in our system of government.
“As a son of Mississippi Gulf Coast, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out this is a nomination of a New Orleans-born judge who grew up in Metairie, Louisiana, which is perhaps one reason why I have paid attention to her career for years. There is no question that Judge Barrett is qualified by intellectual acumen and years of experience to serve on the highest court in the land. I am praying for her, her family and our nation in what are sure to be tumultuous days in the weeks ahead for the entire country.
“The special circumstances of this nomination, of course, mean that this could be a highly charged confirmation process in an already polarized nation. One need not agree with the process taken by the Senate to agree that, having taken up the nomination, the Senate should treat Judge Barrett with respect and consideration. No serious person actually believes that Judge Barrett would be a theocrat imposing her religious views on a pluralistic republic. In fact, her record shows otherwise, as confirmed even by many who disagree with her rulings.
“We ought then to expect that the debate over Judge Barrett’s nomination would be about her qualifications and her record, not about her personal religious views or affiliations. That’s especially true when our country has the legacy we have sometimes had of religious bigotry—ranging from some in our history wrongly suggesting that Catholic Americans would be beholden to the pope instead of the Constitution, that Jewish Americans would have duel loyalty with Israel, that Muslim Americans would impose sharia law or that evangelical Americans would interpret their prophecy charts and not the law. We should expect as a country to be free from even a hint of those attitudes now, and I hope this confirmation process will debate issues and qualifications, not question the nominee’s prayer life.”
Earlier this week, Christianity Today published an op-ed by Moore about the future of the Supreme Court after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, “The Supreme Court Needs to Be Less Central to American Public Life.”
