Sept. 18, 2020, was a dark day in American history. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bater Ginsberg died after losing her battle with pancreatic cancer. Many people across the nation spent that Friday night in tears. I know I did. She had opened countless doors for women for centuries to come; at least that’s what we thought. 

President Donald Trump announced just 38 days before the presidential election that his nomination for Supreme Court Justice was Judge Amy Coney Barrett. This nomination is a cry for help. Trump knows that this election is not heading in his favor, and he’s scared. Some people of the Christian church are realizing he’s not the “family values” man they once, for some inexplicable reason, thought he was. The Republican party ideal of “family values” supports the notion that families are supposed to be average, white, straight, good-old-classic Americans. Trump doesn’t always follow these values. To win over voters with these values, he has nominated Barrett.

With Barrett as the nominee, the rights of women’s bodies—bodies that they own, that they walk around with everyday—are at risk because Barrett is strongly opposed to a woman’s right to choose. In the reawakening of Roe v. Wade, Barrett is the worst possible nominee. Roe v. Wade is the Supreme Court case that legalized abortion. 

The Affordable Care Act will also be brought to the limelight. This act insures millions of Americans every year. According to The New Yorker, Barrett has been critical of Chief Justice John Roberts’s health care opinions: “Chief Justice Roberts pushed the Affordable Care Act beyond its plausible meaning to save the statute,” she said. She thinks the Affordable Care Act is pushing the power of the government, but if the Affordable Care Act was repealed, 23 million Americans would lose their healthcare, according to The Center for American Progress. Judge Barrett has also written that convicted felons should have a right to own guns if their crimes were nonviolent. This could potentially put more American lives in danger.  

 This nomination is especially despicable based on the timing. Ginsburg’s dying wish was that Trump, Senator Mitch McConell and the rest of the Senate wait until after the election to appoint a new judge. Hours after her death, McConell stated, “Donald Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate.”

Conversely, back in 2016 upon the death of Justice Antoni Scailia, nine months before the election, McConell said that they shouldn’t vote for a Supreme Court Justice in an election year. Interesting that now, the Republican Party seems to be very persistent on approving a new justice. This is especially annoying in the midst of a pandemic. There’s a Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act or a mask mandate they should be trying to pass. This seems like a distraction in the middle of this crisis.

Ginsberg was the second female justice on the Supreme court and the first female with tenure to be hired in the Columbia University School of Law. Ginsberg did not work hard for women’s rights her entire life for this. She worked to inspire young women to follow in her footsteps and “to be everywhere decisions are being made,” she said. Let her death be the start of a revolution. This nomination is a setback in the fight for women’s rights, but it is not the end. It is only the beginning.