On the Left’s Push to Implement Government-Run Health Care

BLACKBURN: Our friends across the aisle have seemed to express a deep concern about a case that is coming up on November 10... This is all about their concern that a constitutionalist judge on the Supreme Court just might get in the way of their push to implement government run health care… If they got their way, every one of those individuals in their private health care marketplace would lose their health insurance… My colleague from California would really like to have people believe that your sole mission in life is to overturn the ACA, and you have stated that you are not on a mission to overturn the ACA. 

BARRETT: I am not, Senator Blackburn, I have no mission and no agenda. Judges don't have campaign promises.

On Electronic Searches and Surveillance

BLACKBURN: It's imperative that Americans have the ability to protect their ‘Virtual You,’ which is their presence online, their data, their transactional life… Can you explain how the Fourth Amendment can still govern the modern world searches and seizures, and how will it continue to apply to emerging technologies that the founders never could have imagined?

BARRETT: The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. It doesn't mean that it protects only the kinds of searches and seizures that those who live at the time of the adoption of the Bill of Rights could have anticipated. Surely, they could not have anticipated the internet or cell phones or airplanes, for that matter. One can reason from the kinds of privacy protections that were in place in 1791 when the Fourth Amendment was ratified to see if the search of modern technology now is analogous to it. 

On Women in Public Service

BLACKBURN: [The left does] not believe that all women deserve to have the opportunity to have a seat at the table. It is only certain women and we have seen their liberal narrative play out today… It is so discouraging to me to see groups on the left say we want diversity, but let that diversity come from a woman who is on the political right and it's like their heads explode… I look forward to the day when that will stop because all women deserve the opportunity to rise.

You have endured some of these pretty extraordinary revelations today, many of which have involved accusations that you are part of some sort of backroom conspiracy to rig the system against the American people and that your record as a judge is somehow frightening and going to cause a panic.

This is the kind of wrongheaded perception that needs to stop. It is not uncommon for women who practice their faith or who hold pro-life views to endure this, especially in a professional context.

On Judge Barrett’s Tenure as a Notre Dame Law Professor

BLACKBURN: I had a very interesting conversation today, actually did a Facebook Live with one of your former students who had written an op-ed for real clear politics, Chase Giacomo. And Chase said one of the things he appreciated about you is that you made your students think. And I think that is a wonderful trait for a judge because what you did was to cause them to get into problem-solving at a time when we lived in a cancel culture.

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