CARRIE SEVERINO: Amy Coney Barrett And The Virtues Of Serving The Law

In an age when everyone seems determined to be heard, Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s new book makes a radical proposal: listen. Listening to the Law isn’t just a title—it’s a judicial philosophy, a personal ethic, and a challenge to how we think about the role of judges in American democracy. Barrett argues that judges shouldn’t speak for the law but listen to it. After reading her book, I’m convinced she practices what she preaches.

Barrett is not dictating what the law should be, but paying attention to the words agreed upon by our elected representatives. She isn’t molding the Constitution into her own likeness but listening to its text and how it has been understood over the past 250 years. And while she is a pathbreaker in many ways, she is not striking a new path in how to be a Supreme Court justice. She recognizes that she is part of an institution that predates her and will, God willing, outlive her, showing profound respect for the historical legacy she has inherited.

When senators talk about public service, I take it with a grain of salt. Even the best have robust instincts for self-promotion—probably a prerequisite for elected office. Some judges, too, clearly aspire to promotion. If every senator looks in the mirror and sees a future president, most judges probably see a future justice.

But Justice Barrett’s own description of her career path strikes me as different. Her nomination was surely exciting and flattering, but it entailed real sacrifice. She accepted the position out of respect for the institution, love of country, and in response to a genuine vocation. While many promoted her as a potential justice, Barrett herself didn’t lobby for the nomination or plan her life around becoming a judge, let alone a justice. She loved her academic career, particularly its accommodation of family life. The appeals court similarly allowed balance—as she describes it, “daily life was not divided into ‘law’ and ‘parenting.’ It was all happening at once.”

For Barrett a Supreme Court seat wasn’t exactly her dream job. The changes were not all positive: moving her family across the country, loss of privacy, a less flexible schedule, and increased security threats for herself and her family. She describes the feeling in the pit of her stomach when invited to interview, and she and her husband used the image of “burning their boats” to capture their commitment to this new direction. When she says she moved forward because of her commitment to serving our country and Constitution, even through sacrifice, I believe her. Tellingly, when asked in interviews whether she likes the job, she simply replies that it is an honor to serve.