AAPI women oppose Trump's radical nominee, Amy Barrett, for the Supreme Court

SCREEN CAPTURE / C-SPAN

Amy Barrett was questioned upon her nomination to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

UPDATED Sept. 27 to include statement from Kamala Harris.

Wanting to have a replacement for the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg in place before the November presidential elections, Donald Trump intends to nominate U.S. Circuit Court Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, according to several media outlets.

Opposition to the deeply conservative Barrett came quickly from the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF). In a statement released Friday, NAPAWF has a track record of harming the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, pregnant people, immigrants, and more.

Trump committed to picking a woman to replace Ginsberg and has narrowed his choices between Barrett and Judge Barbara Lagoa from Florida. He appears to favor Barrett, the more extreme rightwing of the two with a long track record supporting her reputation.

Barrett is a longtime opponent of the Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare," and if confirmed could invalidate the law that would affect two million AAPI during a pandemic. A legal challenge to ACA is expected to be heard in November after the 2020 presidential election.

“At a time when the rights and dignity of immigrant communities and communities of color face daily assaults, we need a Supreme Court justice who will protect the rights that we have fought for,"  said Sung Yeon Choimorrow, executive direcctor of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum. " Amy Coney Barrett is not that justice."

Awaiting to question Barrett if Trump nominates her, are Senators Mazie Hirono and Kamala Harris, the latter is  also the Vice President nominee for the Democrats. Both senators are members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and are noted for their sharp questioning of Trump appointees to the judicial system.

“Just yesterday, I paid my respects to the legendary Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who devoted her life to fighting for Equal Justice Under Law and a more fair and just world," Harris wrote Saturday. "Her passing is devastating, and it would be a travesty to replace her with a justice who is being selected to undo her legacy and erase everything she did for our country."

Harris, a former prosecutor, in particular, gained national notoriety for her aggressive questioning which unsettled conservative nominees, including Attorney General William Barr, former AG Jeff Sessions and Brett Kavanaugh, who was seeking the committee's recommendation for the Supreme Court.

Barrett's "track record shows us who she is and how she will rule from a seat on the Supreme Court. She is opposed to health care access, including abortion, and through her support of sex-selective abortion bans, demonstrated that she supports the racial profiling of Asian American and Pacific Islander women based on nothing more than disproven stereotypes about our communities.," continued Choimorrow's statement.

"AAPI women and other women of color stand to be critically impacted by the next Supreme Court justice, who will have opportunities to vote on decisions governing immigrant rights, voting rights, health care access, and workers’ rights -- issues that disproportionately affect the lives of communities of color. We will fight against this confirmation because this is a fight for our families and our lives,” She said.

NAPAWF said the women's advocate organization is opposed to Barrett’s nomination for the Supreme Court for the following reasons:

• Barrett criticized Chief Justice John Roberts for his decision to uphold Congress’s authority to enact large portions of the ACA. A week after the election, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Trump’s lawsuit to overturn the ACA, which has enabled more than 2 million AAPIs to get coverage.

• Barett signed a letter criticizing the ACA requirement that employers include contraceptive coverage as part of their employer-sponsored health insurance plans. For AAPI women, who already use less effective contraceptive methods, insurance coverage of contraceptive methods is critical to ensuring access to effective contraception.

• Trump has repeatedly promised to appoint only justices who will take away our right to abortion, and leadership from several anti-abortion activist groups have expressed their support for Barrett’s consideration for a seat on the Supreme Court.

• In 2018, Judge Barret joined a dissenting opinion in a ruling that had held unconstitutional an Indiana law banning sex-selective abortion. Sex-selective abortion bans racially profile AAPI women for discriminatory questioning based on the racist and false stereotype that we terminate pregnancies based on son preference and may ultimately deny them care.

• Barrett consistently rules against immigrants seeking relief from deportation. For example, Barrett cast the deciding vote permitting the deportation of a lawful resident who resided in the U.S. for 30 years.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A word of caution, this article is news laced with opinion. Readers are encouraged to seek multiple news sources to formulate their own positions.