‘They Are My Choices’ — Amy Coney Barrett Defies Critics of Her Faith and Family

Judge Amy Coney Barrett defended both her Catholic faith and large family during the Senate Supreme Court confirmation hearings on Tuesday.

Barrett said although she tried to be on a “media blackout for the sake of my mental health” she acknowledged she was aware of the caricatures the left had used to criticize her.

“Look, I’ve made distinct choices,” she said. “I’ve decided to pursue a career and have a large family, I have a multiracial family, our faith is important to us, all of those things are true but they are my choices.”

Barrett is a Catholic mother of seven children, two of them adopted from Haiti, and one special needs child with Down Syndrome.

She said she spent her life “brimming” with other people in her life that made different choices and respected those choices.

“I’ve never tried in my personal life to impose my choices on them and the same is true professionally,” she said.

Barrett acknowledged the confirmation process to ultimately sit on the Supreme Court was “difficult and excruciating” that would have an impact on her family and her personal life.

“We knew that our lives would be combed over for any negative detail, we know that our faith would be caricatures, we knew our family would be attacked,” she said.

Barrett said she and her husband discussed the scrutiny that they would face and chose to embrace that suffering.

“Why should I say that someone else should do the difficulty if the difficulty is the only reason to say no?” she asked. “I should serve my country and my family is all in on that because they share my belief in the rule of law.”