Constitutional Scholar Available for Interviews on Confirmation Hearings, Fall Docket

An American Flag flys outside the Capitol Building at twilight
UMass Lowell's Morgan Marietta is an expert source on the U.S. Supreme Court Senate confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett and other constitutional issues.

10/09/2020

Contacts: Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944, Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu and Christine Gillette, 978-758-4664, Christine_Gillette@uml.edu

Senate confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett scheduled to begin Monday will be fraught with tension, according to a constitutional scholar available for interviews about the process and other issues before the justices this term.

Barrett, a U.S. Appeals Court judge, is President Donald Trump’s pick to replace Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Senate Republicans have vowed to empanel Barrett as the Supreme Court’s ninth judge before the presidential election on Nov. 3.

“We can expect Democrats to use creative tactics to stall the proceedings because they believe the nomination is illegitimate under the circumstances. Their arguments will be mostly focused on the process, but there may be strenuous attacks on Barrett herself in regard to her religious beliefs and her clear support for originalist and textualist approaches to the Constitution. The stakes could not be higher for the future of the court,” Marietta said.

Barrett’s confirmation is just one of several blockbusters involving the court, which began its fall term this week.

Among the biggest cases on the docket is the legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act, whose opponents face an uphill battle, Marietta said. Other significant cases the court will hear this term address the balance between constitutional protections for LGBTQ individuals and religious rights, and protections of free speech for college students.

“Hanging over all of these and other controversies is the specter that challenges to the proceedings of the presidential election will go to the court, adding to some existing cases on voting rights,” Marietta said.

Marietta is an associate professor of political science at UMass Lowell and fellow in the university’s Center for Public Opinion. The co-author of the book “One Nation, Two Realities: Dueling Facts in American Democracy,” his articles about the Supreme Court and constitutional issues are widely published.

To arrange an interview with him via phone, email, Skype or Zoom, contact Nancy Cicco at Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu or 978-934-4944 or Christine Gillette at Christine_Gillette@uml.edu or 978-758-4664.