Unlikely Supreme Court justice could be liberal's best hope as Trump takes power: analysis

Watchers of the Supreme Court have a grim outlook on the right flank's ability to decide cases fairly and independently with a new Donald Trump administration coming in — particularly given that many suspect it played its own role in helping Trump win.

But they are keeping an eye on one Trump-appointed justice in particular who has so far decided cases in a slightly different way than her conservative colleagues, reported CNN.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett "is the only former full-time law professor on the right wing. And she differs from her five fellow conservatives for the obvious reason that she is the sole woman in their bloc, a mother of seven who peppers her hypotheticals with references to ambitious babysitters and delivered meal kits," wrote Joan Biskupic.

"But perhaps most important for the court amid today’s polarization, she is the only one of the conservatives who never served in the top echelons of a Republican administration. She is less likely to echo the GOP political agenda in her questions during oral arguments or reasoning in her written decisions."

In particular, Biskupic wrote, "Her views of executive power, as in Donald Trump’s immunity case last July, are tempered." And while this isn't a great deal of hope for liberals, it is the only silver lining that gives them a way of getting any long-term check on Trump's power from the judicial branch.

Republicans have overwhelmingly dominated Supreme Court appointments for more than half a century, and yet sometimes their own justices frustrate them — which is what some left-of-center court watchers are hoping may happen here.

"In previous decades, as a succession of Republican appointees galvanized the court’s right-wing, individual justices defied expectations and staked out the center. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, a 1981 Reagan appointee who retired in 2006 and died last December, exemplified the phenomenon. She satisfied the left but struck dread among movement conservatives, as did Justice Anthony Kennedy, who served from 1988 to 2018."

Indeed, there have been moments where Barrett enraged her right-wing colleagues, like when she voted to temporarily prevent Idaho from banning emergency abortions, which drew a bitter rebuke from far-right Justice Samuel Alito.

Given that Barrett had a hand in many landmark far-right decisions, particularly the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the first place, she is hardly a reliable ally for the left flank of the court — but she seems to be regarded as one of the easier right-wing justices to persuade, Biskupic noted.

"In [the liberals'] quest for some middle ground, they engage Barrett on the bench and as they draft opinions. During oral arguments, liberal justices often pick up on her questioning to make their own points and try to persuade her in their direction."