Amy Coney Barrett's Biggest Supreme Court Allies Revealed

Newsweek

6 days ago

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Justice Amy Coney Barrett has remained a consistent member of the Court's conservative bloc during the 2024–25 term but her voting patterns showed nuance in key areas, new analysis shows.
Despite MAGA backlash at some of her moves, Barrett voted most frequently with conservative-leaning justices, according to empirical figures from SCOTUSblog.
Barrett agreed most with Justice Brett Kavanaugh (91 percent) and Chief Justice John Roberts, reflecting a continued center-right alignment, it said.
Barrett voted least often with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson (68 percent), Justice Neil Gorsuch (72 percent) and Justice Sonia Sotomayor (74 percent), the analysis found.
While her overall rate of agreement with the majority was in the lower-mid range among justices, she occasionally sided with liberals in procedural or technical rulings.
Why It Matters
American public confidence in the judiciary has been increasing divided and perception of partisnaship at an all time high, Barrett's votes—though largely conservative—may come under heightened attention for any deviation from ideological orthodoxy.
The ideological balance of the Court has fundamentally shifted in recent years, with six of its nine justices appointed by Republican presidents—Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett—and three nominated by Democratic presidents justices, and typically represent the Court's liberal minority—Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
U.S. Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett talk before President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber at the U.S....
U.S. Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett talk before President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on February 7, 2023 in Washington, D.C. MoreWhat To Know
In the 2024-25 term, Justice Barrett sided with the Court's majority in 81 percent of opinions, which from a total of 61 cases, places her in the minority in 12 decisions—typical for a reliably conservative justice who occasionally breaks from the bloc.
Her minority votes do however, reflect a notable level of judicial independence, often stemming from her textualist and proceduralist approach.
Some prominent examples include:
Environmental Regulation Case : Barrett joined the three liberal justices to dissent in a closely watched pollution case, arguing that the majority misinterpreted statutory text—highlighting her willingness to break from conservative norms in favor of legal clarity
: Barrett joined the three liberal justices to dissent in a closely watched pollution case, arguing that the majority misinterpreted statutory text—highlighting her willingness to break from conservative norms in favor of legal clarity Emergency Aid Freeze Case : She again aligned with liberals and Chief Justice Roberts to reject an emergency order freezing foreign aid, showing sensitivity to executive overreach
: She again aligned with liberals and Chief Justice Roberts to reject an emergency order freezing foreign aid, showing sensitivity to executive overreach Jan. 6 Obstruction Ruling: Barrett shared a dissent with Sotomayor and Kagan, criticizing the majority's narrow interpretation of obstruction statutes related to the Capitol riot
In early March, Justice Barrett joined Chief Justice Roberts and the court's three liberal justices in rejecting the Trump administration's request to freeze nearly $2 billion in USAID payments. For many MAGA figures, this wasn't just judicial restraint—it was a betrayal.
Shortly after, Barrett voted against the Trump administration's position again, this time in a 5–4 decision concerning use of the Alien Enemies Act for deporting alleged gang members. She sided with the court's liberal justices in dissenting from the majority, which angered right‑wing activists who saw her as undermining Trump's authority
For MAGA supporters, Barrett's judgments during these high‑profile disputes—arguably the most emblematic of Trump's agenda—crossed a line.
Despite his increasingly vocal criticism of perceived disloyalty from within the conservative legal sphere, President Donald Trump has notably refrained from publicly turning on Barrett.
His early investment in Barrett remains evident. At her 2020 swearing-in, Trump lauded the Notre Dame law professor as "one of our nation's most brilliant legal scholars," and insisted she would "faithfully interpret the Constitution, not legislate from the bench."
The Supreme Court of the United States continues to draw national attention as a powerful arbiter of American law, increasingly perceived as driving jurisprudence in a conservative direction.
A Gallup poll, conducted September 3 to 15, 2024 among 1,007 adults, suggested 58 percent of Americans view the court as conservative. Trust in the judicial branch, especially among independents, has declined sharply—reaching just 48 percent, among the lowest levels in decades. While 69 percent of Republicans say the Court's ideological stance is "about right," 82 percent of Democrats believe the Court is "too conservative."
The pollster reported a margin of error of ±4 percentage.
The Context
Justice Barrett's jurisprudence reflects a commitment to originalism and textualism—interpretative methods closely associated with the conservative legal movement. In key rulings on abortion, executive authority, and agency deference, she has reinforced rather than moderated the court's conservative trajectory.
Barrett's scholarly background sometimes leads to more technical legal reasoning, and while she occasionally diverges from her conservative peers in limited circumstances, these instances are rare and generally do not shift the outcome of major cases.
The court's conservative majority has left a profound mark on landmark decisions involving abortion, gun rights, affirmative action, presidential immunity, and the power of federal agencies. In Dobbs vs. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion after nearly 50 years. It expanded gun rights in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association vs. Bruen (2022) and most recently, in Trump vs. United States (2024), it recognized broad presidential immunity for official acts—ruling in Trump's favor.
In Students for Fair Admissions vs. Harvard and its companion case against the University of North Carolina (2023), the Court dismantled race-conscious college admissions policies. And in Loper Bright Enterprises vs. Raimondo (2024), the Court effectively overturned the Chevron doctrine, a 40-year precedent that had granted deference to federal agencies' interpretations of ambiguous laws. This decision, along with a companion ruling limiting agencies' authority to enforce regulations in their own administrative courts, signals a broader effort to curtail the power of the executive branch.
What People Are Saying
Professor Harold Krent of Chicago-Kent College of Law said in a July 2025 interview with Bloomberg Law's June Grasso, Barrett has largely sided with the Court's conservative majority. "No, it doesn't surprise me at all," Krent said when asked about Barrett's high rate of voting with the majority. "Obviously, those three justices—Roberts, Kavanaugh, and Barrett—wield a lot of the power on this current court, and they will do so for the foreseeable future."
Krent noted that the Court "continues to lean conservative" and that its ideological center has shifted further to the right, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh, often considered a pivotal vote, has effectively become the Court's "median justice."
President Doanld Trump, responding to a question in June about recent backlash that Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett has received from some of his MAGA supporters critical of her recent remarks from the bench on the Trump administration's bid to end birthright citizenship, said: "I just have great respect for her. I always have. And her decision was brilliantly written today, from all accounts."
White House principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields told CNN in statement in June: "President Trump will always stand with the U.S. Supreme Court, unlike the Democrat Party, which, if given the opportunity, would pack the court, ultimately undermining its integrity. The President may disagree with the Court and some of its rulings, but he will always respect its foundational role."