The opening statement for Amy Coney Barrett for the confirmation hearings, beginning tomorrow, contains a lot of fluff about her family and colleagues, but little on the conservative ideals that made her Trump’s choice for the Supreme Court, NBC News reports.
The three-and-a-half page statement starts with a page-and-a-half acknowledgement of the committee, as well as praise for her family, particularly her husband.
“My husband Jesse and I have been married for 21 years. He has been a selfless and wonderful partner at every step along the way,” Barrett writes. “I once asked my sister, ‘Why do people say marriage is hard? I think it’s easy.’ She said, “Maybe you should ask Jesse if he agrees.” I decided not to take her advice. I know that I am far luckier in love than I deserve.
Barrett said that instead of being a dedicated public servant who would strive to be the a comprehensive and well-read justice, she would balance her life with her duties.
“There is a tendency in our profession to treat the practice of law as all-consuming, while losing sight of everything else. But that makes for a shallow and unfulfilling life,” she wrote. “I worked hard as a lawyer and a professor; I owed that to my clients, my students, and myself. But I never let the law define my identity or crowd out the rest of my life.”
Barrett took a paragraph to recognize two women who served on the Court, paving the way to her nomination, Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.