Amy Coney Barrett Breaks From Trump on 3 of 13 Big Rulings
Amy Coney Barrett voted with Trump-aligned outcomes 10 times this term. The three times she didn't are the only ones anyone on the right is talking about.
Justice Barrett, appointed by Trump in 2020, voted in support of Trump and Republican-aligned positions in 10 of 13 major cases this term involving the president's priorities, according to a case-by-case tally.
The three exceptions, tariffs, birthright citizenship, and mail-in ballots, triggered a wave of conservative criticism unlike anything directed at the court's other Trump appointees.
Where She Backed Trump Consistently
Barrett supported Trump's bids to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Slaughter, decisions that expanded presidential power over independent regulatory agencies.
She also backed Republicans challenging campaign finance restrictions, favored gutting a key Voting Rights Act provision, and supported rescinding protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Syrian immigrants.
She joined the majority upholding West Virginia and Idaho laws banning transgender student athletes from girls' teams, and voted to strike down a Colorado law banning conversion therapy for LGBT minors.
On gun rights, she was part of the majority striking down a Hawaii law restricting concealed carry on private property and limiting a federal law barring firearms possession by certain drug users.
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The Three Breaks
In February, Barrett joined Justice Neil Gorsuch, Chief Justice John Roberts, and the liberal justices to strike down Trump's sweeping global tariffs, a signature policy pursued under a law meant for national emergencies. Trump responded by calling the ruling an "embarrassment to their families."
This week brought two more. Barrett authored the 5-4 ruling allowing Mississippi to count mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day but received up to five business days later, writing that "the election-day statutes say nothing about ballot receipt, and we cannot add to the words Congress chose."
The ruling matters practically because mail-in voting has traditionally skewed Democratic, meaning restricting it would have benefited Republicans.
She also joined Roberts' opinion striking down Trump's executive order limiting birthright citizenship, a 6-3 ruling built on the 14th Amendment's citizenship clause. Trump called the decision "too bad for our Country."
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The Backlash Was Sharp and Specific
Vice President JD Vance said directly of Barrett's birthright citizenship vote: "Do I think she made a mistake in the ruling? I do." South Carolina Representative Nancy Mace called for impeaching "rogue, activist judges," writing "we're looking at you Amy Coney Barrett" on social media, and separately argued the female justices misunderstood the 14th Amendment's original intent.
Utah Senator Mike Lee posted a mocking response about the ruling's logic. Article III Project head Mike Davis called Barrett "a disaster for the Supreme Court" and said she should resign. Conservative commentator Megyn Kelly called her "a turncoat" who is "constantly siding with the left," and commentator Matt Walsh derided her as a "terrible pick."
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Why Kavanaugh Escaped the Same Criticism
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, also a Trump appointee, ruled against Trump's birthright citizenship order too, but through narrower reasoning based on a 1940 statute rather than joining Roberts' full constitutional opinion.
That distinction shielded him from comparable backlash: some conservatives read his concurrence as a roadmap for Congress to legislate exceptions rather than a rejection of Trump's underlying goal.
According to SCOTUSblog's end-of-term statistical analysis, Roberts and Kavanaugh were each in the majority 95% of the time this term, with Barrett close behind at 92%, statistically the most reliably conservative-aligned trio on the bench even accounting for her breaks.
What Legal Scholars Say Is Actually Happening
Brian Fitzpatrick, a Vanderbilt law professor who clerked for the late Justice Antonin Scalia, disputed the idea that Barrett isn't a solidly conservative jurist. "To expect any justice to always vote the way that we wish things were, it's just complete fantasy, and it misunderstands the entire enterprise," he said.
Barrett's judicial approach centers on textualism and originalism, reading statutes by their plain meaning and the constitution as understood at adoption.
That methodology has occasionally produced results that cut against executive power regardless of which party holds the presidency; in a 2022 immigration case, she dissented from a ruling expanding executive discretion, arguing the majority's reading let the administration sidestep congressional mandates.
Not every legal observer is convinced her breaks signal genuine independence going forward. University of Oklahoma law professor Michael Smith cautioned against reading too much into the pattern: "She is very much on board with the program of the conservative justices. There is very little reason to hold out hope that she will make much of a difference for liberal goals."
Where This Leaves the Court
Barrett's own remarks at her 2020 confirmation ceremony, delivered with Trump standing behind her, framed her approach in advance: "The oath that I have solemnly taken tonight means at its core I will do the job without fear or favor and do it independently of the political branches and of my own preferences."
Whether this term's three breaks represent that independence in practice, or simply the outer edge of an otherwise reliably conservative record, is now the central question hanging over her remaining decades on the bench.
TL;DR
- Barrett backed Trump-aligned outcomes in 10 of 13 major cases this term, breaking on tariffs, birthright citizenship, and mail-in ballots
- Her birthright citizenship and mail-in ballots votes triggered fierce criticism from Vance, Mace, and other conservative figures
- Fellow Trump appointee Kavanaugh also ruled against birthright citizenship but avoided similar backlash due to narrower legal reasoning
- SCOTUSblog data shows Barrett was in the majority 92% of the time this term, among the court's most consistent conservative voters
- Legal scholars are split on whether her breaks reflect genuine independence or the outer edge of a still-reliable conservative record
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Politics & World News Editor
James Mitchell has covered US and UK politics for over a decade, with a focus on elections, foreign policy, and Capitol Hill. He breaks down complex political stories into clear, fast analysis.
