Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court Amy Coney Barrett failed to name the five freedoms protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution when questioned during a confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
When Republican senator Ben Sasse asked Barrett to name the five freedoms, she listed speech, press, religion, and assembly before looking puzzled and asking, “What else am I missing?”
Mr Sasse, who also serves as a circuit judge for the US Court of Appeals, was forced to remind Ms Barrett of the fifth freedom – that is, the right “to protest or redress [of grievances]”.
Ms Barrett is the president’s pick to take the vacant spot on the bench of the Supreme Court after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who passed away last month.
Wednesday was the third day in a series of confirmation hearings after her nomination, where both Democrat and Republican senators have been asking her questions on a a range of issues.
The First Amendment ensures a number of basic rights for the people of America, by prohibiting governments from passing laws that can prevent US citizens from exercising freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and from having the ability to petition for a redress of grievances.
As a Supreme Court nominee, Ms Barrett’s failure to remember the right to protest is relevant for a number of reasons, including the fact that the year 2020 has been marked by a series of major protests against racial inequality and police brutality. The man who nominated her, Mr Trump, has frequently spoken out against the protests and vowed to send in security forces to quash them.
There has been an ongoing debate about new legislation to enforce a crackdown on protests. According to a report from PEN America, there has been a steady increase in the number of anti-protest legislation proposals since the 2016 election. Most of these proposals increase penalties for protesters.
The main argument against such efforts to criminalise protests is the freedom guaranteed under the First Amendment.
