Amy Coney Barrett Criticized by Parts of MAGA Over USAID Ruling

Following the Supreme Court's decision to reject President Donald Trump's funding freeze and force the administration to pay $2 billion in USAID contracts, Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett received criticism from some members of MAGA. 

The Details: Barrett, who was appointed by Trump in 2020, sided with Chief Justice John Roberts and the court's three liberal justices in the decision. Following the decision, she was called a “closet Democrat” and “evil.” On Steve Bannon's podcast, he focused on her body language when she greeted Trump at an event last week. Others attached pictures of her family—including her adopted children from Haiti—when calling her a "DEI hire."

From the Left: A Washington Post (Lean Left bias) analysis linked the comments to rising security threats against justices. It also called Barrett an “unpredictable swing vote.”

From the Right: A Washington Examiner (Lean Right) piece said data didn't support the claim that Barrett is a swing vote, arguing she was in the majority 92% of the time, third to Roberts and Kavanaugh. Ross Douthat (Lean Right) said, “Anti-Barrett sentiment has been building for a while on the populist right; she’s been a conservative vote on the biggest cases of the past few years, from abortion to affirmative action, but she’s broken with the other conservatives on smaller issues in a way that’s consistent enough to constitute a pattern.” Criticism of Barrett was mostly limited to social media, while opinions conservative publications defended her. A writer in the National Review (Right) called the comments “silly” and suggested those calling a woman who has shown excellence in her field a DEI hire were showing “a little misogyny.”