Updated 3:17 p.m.
Amy Coney Barrett, a judge on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, has been nominated by President Donald Trump to fill the seat of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court.
Her three-year judicial record shows a clear and consistent conservative bent. She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame Law School and Rhodes College who has taught law at Notre Dame, worked for a Washington law firm and clerked for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
If the federal judge from Indiana is confirmed, it will allow Trump to put a historic conservative stamp on the high court just weeks before the election. Trump aims to maximize the benefit of his Supreme Court choice before Nov. 3 and even secure an electoral backstop should the results be contested.
Conservative groups and congressional allies are laying the groundwork for a swift confirmation process for Barrett. They, like the president, are wasting little time moving to replace Ginsburg, organizing multimillion-dollar ad campaigns and marshaling supporters both to confirm the pick and to boost Trump to a second term.
Even before Ginsburg’s death, the president had tried to use the likelihood of more Supreme Court vacancies to his political advantage. Now, as he nears a decision on her likely replacement, Trump has used the vacancy to appeal to battleground-state voters and as a rallying cry for his conservative base.
