Justice Amy Coney Barrett talks about the Supreme Court as dozens protest outside theater

SANTA FE — Hundreds of people came to The Lensic Performing Arts Center on Sunday — some to judge and others to hear from a judge.

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett was in Santa Fe to speak about the court and the Constitution during a roughly 75-minute event that was put on by the University of New Mexico School of Law and St. John’s College. Barrett discussed her book, "Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court and Constitution.” In it, she talks about her journey to the Supreme Court, the workings of the court and her approach to her role and interpretation of the law, including the Constitution, which she referred to as a “multigenerational document.”

“And one of the themes of the book is that we don’t stand in a moment that’s isolated from the past,” she said. “The Constitution has been amended 27 times. … But each generation has taken the Constitution, made it its own, built on the work of other generations before it.”

Barrett said she got the idea to write the book after receiving the same questions from people about the Supreme Court and her role as a justice.

“I can’t talk to everyone who comes through the court or answer every single letter in detail, but I could write a book that explains the Constitution and the law and the court, and in that way, could invite people in. It’s for both lawyers and nonlawyers alike.”

Barrett was asked if she dreamt of becoming a Supreme Court justice.

“One of the law clerks of another justice asked me that the other day, and I said, ‘Do you mean when I was a little girl did I dream that people would call me a religious zealot, an embarrassment?’ Just teasing,” Barrett said. “No, I did not think of being a judge or a justice as a life ambition. … It’s like lightning striking anyway. It’s not something you can really plan for.”

She later discussed important traits for a judge to have, which include having good judgment, legal skill and writing ability.

“You want the judge to have what we call the ‘judicial temperament,’ which would (mean being) respectful to colleagues, to staff, to the lawyers arguing before the court and all of that,” Barrett said. “But I think one that I’ve really grown to appreciate is that, I think, you want a judge of strong character because I think you need to have a judge that can withstand pressure from the outside and make decisions that are truly what the judge, in her best judgment, thinks are what the law requires without regard to the pushback or the disappointment that you might get.

“And the thing about the law and the thing about being a judge is you are going to disappoint one side. That’s the nature of the enterprise.”

Barrett added: “There are many people in the country that are intensely interested in (any given) case. And if you can’t steel yourself to tuning out what’s happening outside, and you can’t steel yourself to following the law where it leads, regardless of whether it earns you enemies, well then you’re not a good judge.”

As Barrett spoke, dozens of people stood outside the arts center to voice their displeasure at her appearance. Many protested her appearance because she voted to overturn Roe v. Wade in the 2022 case, Dobbs v. Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization, that was decided in a 5-4 vote. The ruling has led to abortion bans in many states.

Among the protesters was Santa Fe resident Carol Norris, who held a sign that read, "Pro-choice Santa Fe says: Keep Roe-Roe-Roeing Right Outta our Town, Amy." 

“Amy Coney Barrett has taken away so many rights in this country, a woman’s right to choose and (we want) her to know that we’re paying attention,” Norris said.

Toward the end of the discussion, Barrett was asked if her service to the court was “consistent with your Catholic faith and what’s God’s love for all people around the globe?”

“I don’t think of my faith as coloring my job at all,” she said. “And so, I’ve always been very clear about that. I don’t take my faith to work in the sense that I, you know, pray about (how) a decision should be decided, or I, you know, call up, you know, the Pope on the phone. … The First Amendment grants everybody the freedom to have whatever religion they choose, or (no) religion at all. And so, I see it as antithetical to what my job would be to try in any way to impose my faith on other people, or conceive of my job as part of, you know, a mission of my faith.”

In her book, Barrett said the success of the court rides on the ability to disagree respectfully.

“I think the way that debates often proceed nowadays is a winner-take-all, like ‘I have my ideas and I am right and I am going to ground the other side,’” she said during Sunday’s event. “We can’t live that way. We can’t govern ourselves that way. … There’s always going to be give-and-take and I think the way to have that, the way to have that collegiality and respect for people who disagree with you is to be able to know them as people.”

Gregory R.C. Hasman is a general assignment reporter and the Road Warrior. He can be reached at ghasman@abqjournal.com or 505-823-3820.