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New Data and CASA Opinion Highlight Barrett's Judicial Duality

Recent analysis reveals that she combines consistent conservative rulings on major merits cases with unpredictable procedural votes that have drawn criticism across the political spectrum.

U.S. Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett talk before President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on February 7, 2023 in Washington, D.C.
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Overview

  • She authored the majority opinion in Trump v. CASA limiting nationwide injunctions, prompting progressive commentators to warn of threats to the rule of law.
  • SCOTUSblog data show she agreed most often with Brett Kavanaugh (91%) and Chief Justice John Roberts and least often with Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson (68%), Neil Gorsuch (72%) and Sonia Sotomayor (74%).
  • On its merits docket, Barrett sided with the conservative majority in all six 6–3 ideological cases, upholding bans on gender-related treatments for minors and exclusion of Planned Parenthood from Medicaid.
  • She diverged from conservative peers on emergency shadow-docket motions, voting against delaying Trump’s sentencing, pausing a $2 billion foreign aid freeze and staying removals of Venezuelan gang members.
  • President Trump publicly praised her judicial work even as some MAGA figures criticized her procedural rulings, underscoring her complex position on the Court.