Amy Coney Barrett, born January 28, 1972, in New Orleans, Louisiana, to a deeply Catholic family, is an American lawyer and jurist serving as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court since October 27, 2020.[1][2][3][5] She is the fifth woman confirmed to the Court, nominated by President Donald Trump to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg following her death in September 2020.[1][3][5] Barrett graduated from Rhodes College with a degree in English literature and earned her law degree from Notre Dame Law School. She began her legal career with prestigious clerkships: first for Judge Laurence Silberman on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (1997-1998), then for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (1998-1999), whose originalist judicial philosophy she has cited as influential.[1][2][3] After brief private practice, she joined Notre Dame Law School as a professor in 2002, publishing extensively in top law reviews and earning distinction as a scholar.[2][7] In 2017, Trump nominated her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, where she was confirmed and served until 2020, authoring about 100 opinions on issues including gun rights, immigration, discrimination, sexual assault, and abortion, often aligning with conservative views.[1][2][5][6] Her Supreme Court nomination sparked controversy due to its proximity to the 2020 presidential election; she was confirmed 52-48 along party lines on October 26, 2020, after a four-day Senate hearing.[1][3][5] Currently, Barrett remains an active Supreme Court associate justice, contributing to a 6-3 conservative majority on cases involving constitutional interpretation, abortion rights, and other high-profile matters.[3] Married to Jesse M. Barrett since 1999, she is a mother of seven children.[2][4]