HARTFORD, Conn. — A nominee to the Connecticut Supreme Court advised state lawmakers Monday that she wouldn’t have signed a 2017 letter supporting Amy Coney Barrett for a federal appeals courtroom place if she knew Barrett would later vote to overturn Roe v. Wade abortion protections as a member of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Sandra Slack Glover, a federal prosecutor nominated by Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont, made the remark throughout her affirmation listening to earlier than the legislature’s Judiciary Committee, as a number of members of the Democratic majority expressed issues about her assist of Barrett. The committee was scheduled to vote on Glover‘s nomination later within the day.
“I’m not going to demonize her,” Glover mentioned of Barrett. “But once I take a look at that letter now … I’m not comfy with a few of these statements.
“But I also believed, clearly naively at this point, I thought there were guardrails,” she mentioned, referring to judges’ respect for authorized precedents. “And I thought the lower court judges were constrained. I thought the Supreme Court was constrained. And I was wrong. And looking back and knowing what I now know, I shouldn’t have signed it.”
Glover added she was a agency supporter of abortion rights, from the views of each a lady and a lawyer.
Glover was amongst 34 individuals who served as U.S. Supreme Court legislation clerks in 1998, together with Barrett, who signed the 2017 letter to leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee supporting Barrett‘s nomination to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. In 1998, Barrett was a clerk for Justice Antonin Scalia and Glover was a clerk for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
The letter mentioned the signees believed Barrett was “fully qualified” to be a federal appeals decide.
“Professor Barrett is a woman of remarkable intellect and character,” the letter mentioned. “She is eminently certified for the job. This view is unanimous – each legislation clerk from October Term 1998 has joined this letter.
“Based on our observations, we came to respect Professor Barrett’s conscientious work ethic, her respect for the law, and her remarkable legal abilities,” it mentioned. “She conducted herself with professionalism, grace, and integrity.”
Glover mentioned the letter was not an endorsement of Barrett‘s political beliefs.
Barrett was later nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Donald Trump and was among the many conservative majority that overturned Roe v. Wade final 12 months. During Senate hearings earlier than her affirmation, Barrett had mentioned she would obey stare decisis, the doctrine of courts giving weight to precedent when making selections.
State Rep. Patricia Dillon, a New Haven Democrat, mentioned the state Supreme Court was very important in performing as a “firewall” towards the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court.
“There’s some very dramatic things happening in Washington,” Dillon mentioned at Monday’s listening to. “If I could quote Justice (Elena) Kagan, actually, the stakes could not be higher at the state level because that may be the threat we have when it comes to some issues.”
All present justices on the seven-member state Supreme Court had been nominated by Democratic governors.
Glover, 52, of Guilford, is chief of the appellate unit on the Connecticut U.S. legal professional’s workplace, the place she has labored since 2004. She beforehand served as an appellate legal professional on the U.S. Department of Justice and in personal observe.
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