Justice Amy Coney Barrett is facing a torrent of conservative outrage—much of it laced with sexist attacks—after she voted with the Supreme Court's majority to uphold birthright citizenship, dealing a significant setback to President Trump's immigration agenda. Barrett joined Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and the court's three liberal justices in striking down Trump's Day 1 executive order restricting birthright citizenship, but she has become the primary target of the backlash.
The criticism has ranged from overtly sexist remarks to more subtle gendered jabs, prompting some conservative legal figures to defend Barrett and urge critics to focus on her judicial reasoning rather than her gender. Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina called for impeachment of "rogue, activist judges," specifically naming Barrett, and later suggested that the female justices misunderstand the 14th Amendment. "The 14th Amendment was written for freed slaves. Not for birth tourism. The men who wrote it knew the difference. But apparently the female justices on the Supreme Court do not," Mace wrote on X.
Senator Mike Lee of Utah appeared to mock Barrett's vote with a rhetorical question: "If a woman gives birth at the Supreme Court, is her baby entitled to automatic status as a justice?" Far-right journalist Laura Loomer accused Barrett of "effectively sending our country to the grave" by opposing the president's order. The Notre Dame College Republicans—from Barrett's alma mater—called her "an absolute disgrace to the Notre Dame name" and apologized on her behalf for the ruling's consequences.
More explicit sexism emerged from conservative commentator Matt Walsh, who labeled Barrett a "DEI hire, little better than Kentanji Jackson" and lumped her with the court's three liberal justices, all women. "The worst Supreme Court Justices of all time have all been women," Walsh wrote, adding that "Republican presidents should take the hint." Arizona pastor Dale Partridge invoked the Garden of Eden to argue that women are "by nature" "more easily deceived" and that "men are designed to rule," concluding "No more women judges or politicians." Some critics targeted Barrett's role as a mother of two Black children adopted from Haiti. Right-wing Christian nationalist Joel Webbon wrote, "Because of an interracial family, my grandchildren may not get to have a country," adding, "The real problem is that women make great mothers, not civil magistrates."
However, a number of mainstream conservative voices have rallied to Barrett's defense. National Review senior writer Charles C.W. Cooke coined the term "Barrett Derangement Syndrome," noting the irony that critics attacked her last week for her position on a TPS case despite having a Haitian child, and now attack her for the birthright ruling because of that child. Amy Swearer, a senior legal fellow at Advancing American Freedom—whom Justice Clarence Thomas cited in his dissent—shot back at critics singling out Barrett by gender. "Justice Barrett is wrong about the Citizenship Clause," Swearer wrote on X. "But some of ya'll out here acting like … a man didn't write the majority opinion." She urged critics to "Grow up. Control your emotions." Andrew Walker, a professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, repudiated attacks on Barrett "on the basis of sex," saying they deny "the equality of the sexes as made in God's image." He added, "Disagree with Justice Barrett's jurisprudence all you want—that's your prerogative. But discrediting her reasoning by appeal to her sex or her status as an adoptive mother—as some on the populist right now do—is a category error."
Chief Justice Roberts, who authored the majority opinion, did not escape the MAGA backlash, though attacks on him focused on his legal reasoning. Conservative talk show host Mark Levin accused Roberts of writing a "deceitful" opinion, noting that Thomas provided quotes to back up his argument that the citizenship clause "doesn't apply to aliens," but "none of that is cited by John Roberts or the majority." Levin charged, "Why? Because they are lying to the American people." The ruling has reignited debate over birthright citizenship, with the DOJ now targeting birth tourism fraud in the wake of the decision, while GOP legal minds clash with Trump over the implications. The Heritage Foundation's president blasted the ruling as a "betrayal," as conservatives grapple with the political fallout. For now, Barrett remains at the center of a firestorm that reveals deep fissures within the right over gender, jurisprudence, and the limits of judicial power.
