WASHINGTON — MAGA activists have turned against one of President Donald Trump's own appointees to the Supreme Court: Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
Appointed by Trump in 2020, Barrett is a staunch conservative who has joined major rulings in which the court has moved U.S. law to the right, including on abortion and affirmative action.
But that's not enough for some of Trump's most aggressive supporters, who think the former Notre Dame Law School professor has been a disappointment. MAGA supporters see what some call an independent streak as a sign she isn't sufficiently aligned with or loyal to Trump.
"She is a rattled law professor with her head up her a--," said Mike Davis, who once clerked at the Supreme Court for Justice Neil Gorsuch and described Barrett as "weak and timid."
Barrett defenders have dismissed the attacks, scoffing at the idea that the justice’s conservatism is defined by how her decisions align with Trump and insisting Barrett won’t be affected by outside criticism. Barrett, reached via the Supreme Court, did not respond to a request for comment.
The anger from Davis and other right-wing personalities with large online followings stems mostly from a couple of recent high-profile, 5-4 decisions in which Barrett has been the deciding vote against Trump's side.
Swift and vicious reviews poured in from right-wing, Trump-allied figures this week when Barrett and other justices rejected a Trump administration attempt to avoid paying U.S. Agency for International Development contractors as ordered to by a federal judge.
"DEI judge," influencer Jack Posobiec posted on X, suggesting that Barrett was a "diversity, equity and inclusion" hire, presumably because she is a woman.
Trump at the time promised to pick a woman to replace liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
"Amy Coney Barrett was a DEI appointee," wrote another far-right influencer, Laura Loomer.
Her X post featured a photo of Barrett's family. Barrett and her husband have seven children, including two they adopted from Haiti, who are Black.
Even Barrett's brief interaction with Trump earlier this week, when he delivered an address to Congress, has been scrutinized by the online MAGA set.
"Look at how Justice Amy Coney Barrett looks at our duly elected President, the man who put her on the Supreme Court. She looks very bitter," Rogan O'Handley, an influential MAGA figure on X known by his handle DC_Draino, wrote in a post containing a video of the encounter.
NBC News; X
One law professor, Josh Blackman at South Texas College of Law, suggested that Barrett should step down from her lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court so that Trump can pick a replacement.
The White House did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Barrett defenders have fought back, with Derek Muller, a Notre Dame law professor who studied under Barrett, saying in an interview he doubted she would be affected by the negative reactions.
"She has the resolve to be on the court just like the other justices do," he said. The justices know that "unpopularity is not a measure of what a judge is doing," he added.
The conservative National Review also weighed in, posting a column on Thursday titled “In Defense of Justice Amy Coney Barrett,” deriding the criticism as “nonsense.”
Barrett's USAID vote followed a decision in January when the court, once again split 5-4, rejected Trump's request to block a sentencing hearing in his criminal hush money case in New York. The decision prompted angry reactions from pro-Trump voices including Davis.
In both cases, Barrett joined fellow conservative Chief Justice John Roberts in the majority, aligned with the three liberal justices.
Even before those cases, Barrett has increasingly shown a willingness to separate herself from the right flank of the court with a considered and cautious approach.
What the online critics fail to address is that Barrett has consistently cast key votes in favor of conservative causes, including when the court overturned abortion rights landmark Roe v. Wade, ended affirmative action, expanded gun rights and undermined the power of federal agencies.
"It seems to me there is this impulse where personal loyalty to Donald Trump in an unquestioned way is seen as a requirement for a sitting justice on the Supreme Court. It doesn’t matter how conservative that person might be," said Anthony Kreis, a professor at Georgia State University College of Law.
The harsh criticism of Barrett comes amid a stream of similar and sometimes more violent rhetoric aimed at judges who have stymied Trump's agenda.
Roberts recently warned that threats of violence and intimidation against judges has been increasing in recent years.
Barrett has spoken previously about how her appointment to the Supreme Court — and the security concerns that go with it — has affected her and her family.
Like all justices, she has protection not just at the court but also at her home in Virginia.
At a judicial conference last year, she recalled one of her sons asking her why she owned a bulletproof vest.
Security of the justices was in the spotlight three years ago following the leak of an early draft of the abortion ruling. Then, it was activists on the left who were angered by the decision.
An armed man was arrested outside the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh and charged with attempted murder. Protesters also gathered outside several justices' homes, including Barrett's.
"After the attempted assassination of Justice Kavanaugh, we need to be vigilant about potential threats," Blackman said in an email.
But he stood by his criticism of Barrett, saying that some conservatives feel like they were misled about what kind of justice she would be.
"I think conservatives feel like there was a bait and switch," he added.
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