I argued a shooting death case in front of Amy Coney Barrett. Here’s why she shouldn’t be on the Supreme Court.
Now that it’s been two months since Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation, I can confidently say she is not qualified to sit on the Supreme Court. Sure, she was nominated by the vilest figure in the last century of American politics. Sure, McConnell rammed her nomination through the Senate while millions of Americans were dying, getting evicted, and trying to figure out where their next meal was coming from. And sure, Barrett is an ideologue who will undoubtedly be toxic to women, unions, the LGBT community, immigrants, and any other vulnerable population you can think of. Those curiosities render her unqualified from the get-go. But this column is not about any of that stuff, about which billions of useless words have already been spent. This is a story about Brad King, who is dead, and his parents, Matt and Gina, who are alive. I had the privilege of representing them in front of then-Judge Barrett earlier this year, during the brief period of time she presided over the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
Brad was killed in his own backyard in central Indiana after he called 911 to report a mental health crisis. He was 29. Because of his mild schizophrenia, he lived with his parents. He had no history of violent or aggressive behavior whatsoever. In her…
