Justice Amy Coney Barrett seemingly leveled criticism against President Donald Trump and his MAGA allies in a public discussion with another judge.
The Trump-appointed justice took part Thursday in Supreme Court Fellows Program Annual Lecture at the Library of Congress, and she told Judge Robert Dow Jr. that religious freedom necessarily created space for all faiths, which appeared to contradict recent public statements by Republicans, according to former U.S. attorney Joyce Vance.
“Freedom of speech and freedom of religion commit us to pluralism,” Barrett told the judge. “They commit us to tolerance. They commit us to having to respect and allow to be heard even those viewpoints that we might disagree with.”
It's not uncommon for justices to speak at public events like that one, Vance wrote, but she said Barrett's remarks stood out in context of Trump's war on Iran and anti-Muslim comments by MAGA allies like Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) and Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN).
"Words like these are easier to say than live by today," Vance wrote. "Justice Barrett is correct that these rights make the country more open, more accepting, more diverse, and much more rich and interesting. But we live in an era when they are undeniably being constricted, as we discussed last night."
"The president of the United States has taken to calling his war in Iran an 'excursion' as though we are all off on spring break," she added. "Now that Trump has his war, he doesn’t seem to know what to do with it. He appears to have had no plans in place for either the future or Iran or protection for the straits of Hormuz. Instead, the White House account on Twitter is posting videos that equate war with video games or football."