Female supporters pray on Capitol Hill as Barrett confirmation hearings kick off
WASHINGTON — A prominent conservative women’s group held a prayer event on Capitol Hill Monday as part of a 12-state bus tour advocating in favor of confirming Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court on the first day of confirmation hearings.
Concerned Women for America, a nonprofit organization committed to protecting and promoting “Biblical values and Constitutional principles through prayer, education, and advocacy,” has embarked on its “Women for Amy” bus tour.
As Barrett’s confirmation hearings began Monday, the bus stopped in the heart of the nation’s capital, Washington D.C.
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In an interview with The Christian Post, Concerned Women for America President and CEO Penny Young Nance explained that her organization wanted to bring together conservative women from across the county to “voice their support on behalf of Amy Coney Barrett as she went into her hearing.”
“We were lining the streets on Constitution Avenue and welcoming her so that she knew there was support for her and women of faith in support of her nomination,” Nance explained.
“The second thing is we were praying. We’re praying for our nation, we’re praying for the Supreme Court, we’re praying for the Barrett family. We learned from the [Brett] Kavanaugh nomination that these can be very chaotic hearings and that there is true spiritual warfare around these nominations.”
A pink bus with a picture of Barrett on one side and information about the organization’s “She Prays She Votes” initiative on the other pulled up in front of the U.S. Capitol Building Monday morning. Concerned Women for America is spending $500,000 on both the “She Prays She Votes” initiative and the “Women for Amy” bus tour.
The back of the bus featured the words “Another Great Justice” and information about where to find Concerned Women for America on social media was emblazoned on all sides of the bus.
Members of Concerned Women for America chapters lined up to take a picture in front of the bus, chanting “Fill that seat” and “Amy!” multiple times.
Nance slammed “the religious bigotry that has been on display around this nomination” and took issue with Barrett’s opponents characterizing her as a “handmaiden" because of her affiliation with the charismatic Christian group People of Praise.
“The notion of handmaiden suggests that Amy Coney Barrett opposes women in leadership when the reality is she’s working as hard as she can to be a woman leader,” the activist explained. “It is the other side who is trying to hold her back.”
Explaining why she thought Barrett was the best option to serve on the Supreme Court, Nance cited Barrett’s reputation as a “brilliant jurist” who graduated at the top of her law school class.
She also cited the fact that the 48-year-old Barrett, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, is a mother of seven and a woman of faith.
Nance said she is excited that conservative women, whom she said have long been underrepresented in U.S. government, would have someone who understands their point of view on the nation’s high court.
Nance noted that while four women have served on the Supreme Court, there has never been a conservative woman on the highest Court in the land.
The late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as well as current Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor were all appointed by Democratic presidents and reliably sided with liberals in landmark Supreme Court decisions.
Nance acknowledged that while former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor was appointed by Republican President Ronald Reagan, she was a “moderate” not a conservative.
“What I’m counting on is that Justice Barrett believes in interpreting the law in light of the text of the Constitution,” she said. “Our biggest problem with the court is that there are members of the Supreme Court who would rather be senators than jurists. The responsibility and the separation of powers demands that Supreme Court members only interpret the law in light of the actual text of the Constitution, not feelings, not what they wish it said, not public opinion.”
The “Women for Amy” bus tour has already made stops in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. Future stops are planned in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Texas and Arizona.
Nance said that should Barrett be confirmed by the time the tour is scheduled to conclude on Oct. 30, the group would take a “victory lap” in the final stops of the tour.
“We’re going to win on this,” she predicted.
After discussing Concerned Women for America’s efforts regarding Barrett’s confirmation, Nance explained the goal of the “She Prays She Votes” initiative is to “bring together women” in key battleground states and “spend time praying for our country.”
“[We are] reminding them to register to vote in the states where that’s still a possibility and then on Election Day, reminding them to vote,” she stated.
