Right-wing group is stopping at nothing to get Amy Coney Barrett confirmed

When Donald Trump picked Judge Amy Coney Barrett as his nominee for the Supreme Court, the right-wing advocacy group Americans for Prosperity swiftly started rallying conservatives around her.

“AFP’s activists proudly support the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett,” Casey Mattox, vice president for legal and judicial strategy, wrote in a statement at the time.

“We are confident that she will embrace her role to safeguard the constitutional rights of the people while recognizing that we elect Congress, not the courts, to legislate.”

Maddox also issued a directive to the U.S. Senate.

“Any senator, of any party, who wants a Supreme Court that puts the Constitution first, interprets the law as written, and protects our freedoms should be thrilled by Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination and commit to her prompt confirmation,” he wrote.

Americans for Prosperity has since launched a full-scale campaign aimed and getting Barrett through her confirmation to a seat on the high court.

The group launched a dedicated website, UniteForBarrett.com, that facilitates writing to individual senators to pressure them to confirm Barrett as swiftly as possible.

“Dear Senator, Americans deserve a Supreme Court that puts the Constitution first, interprets the law as written, and protects our freedoms,” the letter template reads. “With a recent vacancy on the Supreme Court, you have an opportunity to make a significant mark to defend our Constitution and get our government working as it should.”

The group also launched targeted direct-mail and layered digital ads in key states.

Mattox appeared on the WHO Radio show Friday, to tout the alleged success of that campaign.

He claimed that since her nomination 10 days ago, Americans for Prosperity had seen far more people sign up to support Barrett than during a similar push to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

He then encouraged listeners to sign a letter if they hadn’t already.

“We need to lean in to this, we need to make sure senators are hearing that this is something they need to prioritize,” Mattox said. “This is an intergenerational opportunity to make sure the courts are protecting the American constitution.”

Americans for Prosperity was founded in 2004 to promote the conservative agenda of its main funders, Charles and David Koch. The group was instrumental in expanding the Tea Party movement and its right-wing protests succeeded in stalling key parts of Obamacare, including Medicaid expansion in most conservative states.

Americans for Prosperity has also come under fire for several alleged voter suppression schemes in states like Wisconsin, where it sent Democratic voters falsified absentee ballot applications in 2011, and West Virginia, where, in 2014, the group sent “‘misleading and confusing’ material that [may have made] them incorrectly believe they [weren’t] eligible to vote” in that year’s election, according to the Charleston Gazette-Mail.

It’s also run attack ads on Democratic officials over the years, including Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam.

Donald Trump has promised from the start of his campaign to destroy Obamacare. If Coney Barrett is confirmed, there are plenty of ways a conservative Supreme Court could undermine progressive values for decades to come, even if Joe Biden beats Trump in November.

Women’s reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, immigrant rights are also at stake if Republicans, with the help of Americans for Prosperity and other like-minded groups, manage to rush Barrett’s confirmation before the election.

In addition to her conservative politics, Barrett has notably refused to recuse herself if the outcome of the 2020 election goes to the Supreme Court.

According to Politico, her responses to a Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire last month left out any mention of recusal in cases involving “the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.”

Judiciary Committee member Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), criticized Barrett’s answers at that time, stating, “The underlying fault here is with the timing, which makes it a sham, but certainly she should recuse herself. In a normal world, there would be no question about it.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.