Politics

FACT CHECK: Did Amy Coney Barrett Say People Who Are Gay ‘Have A Right To Be Discriminated Against’?

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A viral Facebook post shared over 700 times claims Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett said that “gays have a right to be discriminated against.”

Verdict: False

There is no record of Barrett making the statement attributed to her in the post.

Fact Check:

Barrett currently serves as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, per a statement from the White House. President Donald Trump on Saturday announced her nomination to the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy left by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, according to NPR.

A viral Facebook post claims Barrett, who is a devout Catholic, made a disparaging remark about members of the LGBTQ community, claiming, “Amy Barret said gays have a right to be discriminated against because they are against Gods wishes and won’t be allowed. Heaven.”

However, the Daily Caller News Foundation searched through a number of her legal writings, as well as media reports about her and didn’t find any evidence she made the remark attributed to her in the post. Politico, The New York Times and SCOTUSblog published extensive profile pieces on the judge, but none mention anything about her making such a remark either.

While there is no record of Barrett making the comment, she did sign a 2015 letter addressed to Catholic bishops that included a statement about “marriage and family founded on the indissoluble commitment of a man and a woman.”

The exact origin of the misattributed quote is unclear, but it may stem from concerns some people have about Barrett’s faith. Before the hearing for her circuit court appointment in 2017, 27 LGBTQ advocacy groups together wrote an open letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which in part reads, “We remain concerned about how her religiously-infused moral beliefs would inform her judicial decision-making about issues of concern to the communities that our organizations serve.”

During her 2017 confirmation hearing, Barrett said, “It’s never appropriate for a judge to impose that judge’s personal convictions, whether they derive from faith or anywhere else on the law,” according to The Associated Press.