Amy Coney Barrett Is Now a Supreme Court Justice. Here’s What That Means for You

Amy Coney Barrett was sworn in to the Supreme Court on Monday. The 48-year-old justice previously served as a judge for only three years before being elevated to a lifetime appointment on the highest court in the land. She takes the seat of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the legendary liberal justice who died on September 18, at 87.

This marks the third time in his term that a justice President Trump nominated has been confirmed to the Supreme Court—his appointee Justice Brett Kavanaugh has so far voted to curb abortion rights, to curb LGBTQ rights, and to curb voting rights, among other issues, while his appointee Justice Neil Gorsuch has also been a reliable conservative vote, though somewhat less extreme.

No one knows exactly how a Supreme Court justice will vote until she starts voting, and Barrett’s exceptionally rushed Senate hearing wasn’t very revealing—not to mention that she doesn’t have much of a record to analyze, since she has been a judge for less time than most people spend in high school. What we do know, from her writings and past work, is that Barrett is an exceptionally conservative thinker—analysis from 538 of her time on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that she was one of the most conservative voters, especially on civil rights issues. 

She identifies as a Constitutional Originalist, which means, in her words, “I understand [the Constitution] to have the meaning that it had at the time people ratified it.” This is perplexing because, as many have pointed out, the Constitution, for example, didn’t consider Black people to be fully human. In fact, when the Constitution was written, it was illegal for white women like Barrett to vote, let alone serve on the high court.

With her on the bench, the court’s makeup is now weighted 6-3. It doesn’t just have a conservative majority; conservatives have total dominance. Supreme Court justices may be part of an arcane system in which they get jobs for life and wear matching outfits to work, but there is nothing cutesy about the scope of their power. The court will likely make decisions in the next few years that determine whether you can legally marry, vote, and get an abortion.

Here’s what Barrett’s confirmation means for you if you…

…Need health care

In November the Supreme Court will hear a case that will determine whether the Affordable Care Act—or parts of it—is unconstitutional. If the court rules that it is unconstitutional, more than 20 million Americans could lose health care coverage. Axios notes that in 2017, Barrett wrote an article that was deeply critical of the decision by Chief Justice Roberts in 2012, which had found the ACA constitutional. She could easily join other conservative justices in a majority, eliminating Affordable Care.

…Need an abortion

Barrett’s views on abortion aren’t a mystery: She has signed an open letter that claimed that life begins at “fertilization,” called Roe v. Wade “barbaric,” and entreated that readers “please continue to pray to end abortion.” As a judge, she voted to require that parents of minors who are seeking an abortion be informed, and she voted on a partial abortion ban as well as for a law that would have forced doctors to provide funerals or cremations for fetal remains after an abortion or miscarriage. During her Supreme Court hearings she said that she would uphold court precedent; however, in the past she has written that precedent in controversial cases such as Roe v. Wade isn’t fully relevant. (Bear in mind that most of the Democrats and Republicans in the United States don’t think that Roe is controversial; a survey from Pew Research this summer found that 72% of Americans don’t think Roe should be overturned.) With Barrett rounding out a conservative majority on the Supreme Court, abortion may revert to being decided on a state-by-state basis, almost certainly becoming illegal in several states.

…Need birth control

During her Senate confirmation hearings, Barrett was asked if she believed that the 1965 case that found it was legal for married couples to use contraception was decided correctly. She refused to answer. Even Clarence Thomas, one of the court’s most conservative members, said during his confirmation hearings that he believed the case was correctly decided. Barrett added that a law making birth control illegal is “unthinkable,” but her refusal to speak about the landmark birth control case was alarming.

…Need to get married

As with the birth control case, Barrett refused to say whether the landmark 2015 case recognizing same-sex marriages was correctly decided. (She did comment on the court’s decision of other cases, which makes this especially concerning.) She also refused to answer questions about criminalizing LGBTQ relationships and protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination. Under the conservative-dominant Supreme Court, marriage equality and other rights and protections for LGBTQ people could roll back, with devastating consequences.

…Are an immigrant

In June, Barrett voted in the 7th Circuit to uphold a policy from the Trump administration that would have made it easier to deny visas and green cards to immigrants on the basis that they might ever need to use public services like food stamps or Medicaid—basically, No Poor People Allowed. Barrett’s was the minority opinion and the policy was overturned, but her 40-page dissent is notable especially because the Supreme Court has two upcoming cases concerning immigration.

…Need to be safe from sexual assault

In 2019, Barrett wrote a major decision that said a university may have committed gender descrimination by believing a female student who accused a male student of sexual assault—experts say that Barrett’s decision will make it easier for accused assaulters to bring cases against their schools in the future if their schools punish them for harassment or assault.

…Want free and fair elections

The 2020 election, which falls just days after Barrett’s swearing in, may tip one way or another based on a decision by the Supreme Court. As ballots roll in more slowly across the country because of the increase in mail-in voting due to the pandemic and the slowness of the postal service, the Supreme Court has already decided whether votes that arrive days after the election will be counted in several states. Because more Democrats vote by mail-in than Republicans, deciding against counting mail-in ballots may be tantamount to handing the election to President Trump. In rare cases, a Supreme Court decision can actually decide the election—in the Bush v. Gore election case of 2000, a Supreme Court decision stopped a vote recount in Florida, making Bush the instant winner.

…Live on planet Earth

Decisions by the Supreme Court over the next few years may determine whether the deadly effects of climate change are curbed in time or not. Barrett has said she doesn’t hold “firm views” on climate change, and referred to it as a “very contentious matter of public debate,” the Guardian reports.

Originally Appeared on Glamour