Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative US supreme court justice, earned the ire of the far right by siding with three liberal justices in a ruling against the Trump administration this week, the second time in recent months that she has drawn their scorn.
On Monday, she joined a dissent in a ruling over a 1798 law that Trump is using to deport alleged gang members to Venezuela and El Salvador. The court ruled 5-4 to allow the Trump administration to use the Alien Enemies Act to continue these deportations, if detainees are given due process.
Some in the Maga world have dubbed her “Amy Commie Barrett” for her dissents.
“This is disappointing,” Trump ally Mike Lee wrote on X, sharing a post about Barrett’s dissent. “Suicidal empathy is a civilizational risk,” Elon Musk replied.
The Maga backlash against Barrett is not new – in March, she voted to reject a Trump freeze on foreign aid, leading to charges that she was a “DEI hire”. At the time, when asked about the attacks from the right on Barrett, Trump said he didn’t know about them and called Barrett a “very good woman” and “very smart”.
Conservatives hold a 6-3 majority on the court. Barrett was appointed by Trump in October 2020, shortly before the end of his first term, and she voted to overturn Roe v Wade, which established the right to abortion in the US, in 2022.
The rightwing commentator Rogan O’Handley, known on X as DC Draino, told his more than 2 million followers that Barrett voted to “keep cartels in America”. Among Trump’s picks for the supreme court, he wrote: “damn was she a bust.”
Some have shared video of Barrett and Trump, dissecting her facial expressions. They have posted a photo of Barrett alongside the three liberal justices. Catturd, a rightwing account with 3.6 million followers on X, wrote above the photo: “Is anyone thinking today … ‘Please no more women on the Supreme Court!’ but too afraid to tweet it.” Catturd also called Barrett “everything that’s wrong with this country” and “an Absolute disgusting fraud”.
The backlash to Barrett comes amid ongoing attacks on judges around the country, some of whom have been swatted or received death threats, when they rule against Trump or his administration. Calls for impeachment of judges after rulings contrary to Trump’s policies are now common. Barrett’s sister received a bomb threat that included a “free Palestine” message, which was determined to be a false alarm, Reuters reported.
