Overview

• Excerpts quote Amy Coney Barrett writing that “Solomon’s wisdom came from within” and that his authority was “bounded by nothing more than his own judgment.”
• She contrasts that portrayal with her view that American judges must apply rules in the Constitution and legislation without relying on personal values.
• Northwestern law scholar Steven Lubet argues Barrett misreads the story, saying Solomon made a factual determination under background law to identify the true mother.
• Lubet describes Solomon’s threat to divide the baby as a credibility test that elicited demeanor evidence, not a freewheeling moral decree.
• Analyses fault Barrett for downplaying factfinding and highlight her limited trial experience, tying the debate to her textualism and noting no rebuttal from her in the coverage.