Justice Amy Coney Barrett on Sunday rejected assertions that the Supreme Court has handed President Donald Trump unchecked power to carry out contentious policies on immigration, federal employment and public safety, and pushed back on a warning from Hillary Clinton that the court could undo the national right to same-sex marriage.
In her first television interview since joining the court in 2020, Barrett told CBS that justices do not “form a political view” when deciding cases and that the judiciary’s role is to “decide these legal questions” and to “get the law right.”
Barrett was pressed on criticism that the court has moved to the right since her appointment and that it has allowed several of the administration’s most controversial measures to proceed while lower-court challenges continue. She said the court’s work is driven by case law, briefs, oral argument, and deliberation with law clerks and colleagues, and that she approaches each matter with an open mind.
“At any step of that process, I might change my mind from my initial reaction,” Barrett said. “In fact, I often do.” She declined to offer abstract commentary on the constitutional limits of some Trump administration moves, saying doing so would clash with the judicial role. On tariffs, she noted a challenge is currently pending and that she has not formed a view, adding, “stay tuned.”
Barrett’s comments came as the court has allowed several high-profile Trump policies to remain in effect temporarily while legal disputes proceed. Those measures include stepped-up deportations, efforts to reduce the size of the federal workforce, and questions about the executive branch’s authority to deploy federal forces, including National Guard units, in response to unrest or crime.
President Trump drew attention in late August when he said he could take broad action, declaring, “I would — the right to do anything I want to do. I’m the president of the United States. If I think our country is in danger — and it is in danger in these cities — I can do it.” Barrett said the court’s role is not to react to political rhetoric but to resolve the legal issues the parties present.
Barrett also faced questions about the political and social fallout from the court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade, in which she provided a crucial vote. The Dobbs decision ended nearly half a century of federal constitutional protection for abortion and has reshaped the political landscape and litigation across the country. CBS described Barrett as a central figure on the court in light of landmark rulings since her arrival.
Last month, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that the Supreme Court could “do to gay marriage what they did to abortion,” urging members of the LGBTQ community to consider marriage now because she feared the court might leave existing marriages intact while permitting states to restrict future unions. Clinton said Republicans had been working for decades to reach the current moment.
Barrett dismissed that characterization and said the justices must “tune those things out” to perform their duties. She reiterated that certain rights — to marry, to use contraception and to raise children — are treated as fundamental in the court’s doctrine. “We have to do our jobs,” she said, emphasizing legal analysis over political consequence.
Barrett’s rise to the court was rapid after she was nominated by Trump in 2020 to fill the seat of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Before her Supreme Court appointment, she served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and taught law in Indiana. Her record on that court and in academia showed conservative positions on issues including abortion and gun control, positions that drew scrutiny during her confirmation.
Throughout the interview, Barrett reiterated a separation between judicial decision-making and partisan politics, saying it would be inappropriate for justices to announce provisional views on cases not yet before the court. She urged patience for litigants and observers, noting that when particular disputes arrive at the Supreme Court the justices will address them through the established processes of briefing, argument and deliberation.