#Cardinal Dolan praises Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett

Cardinal Timothy Dolan raved about Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s credentials to serve on the US Supreme Court — and warned that her deep Catholic faith should be respected, not attacked — during confirmation hearings.

“She takes her Catholic faith seriously, but that is not why she was nominated as a Justice to the Supreme Court, is it? I think she is nominated because she is the best candidate around,” Dolan said on his SiriusXM show “Conversation with Cardinal Dolan.”

“I hope so. And from what I hear she is. So, let’s hope for the best.”

Dolan was responding to President Trump tapping Barrett to serve on the nation’s highest court, to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a selection that must be confirmed by the GOP-controlled US Senate.

Dolan said he did not know Barrett personally but was “proud” of her. He said people he’s spoken to who know Barrett well “sparkle about her.”

“Is she erudite? Is she articulate? Is she a woman of integrity, strength and independence? They all rave about her character,” he said.

Dolan said of course he is joyful and proud that Barrett “takes her Catholic faith seriously.”

The cardinal likened Barrett to the justice she would replace, who often said her Jewish faith influenced her life and work.

“What I admired in the accolades to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, there were a lot of articles about her deep Jewish faith and how she was not afraid to say that the values of her Jewish faith animated how she lived, and how she judged,” Dolan said. “Nobody found that controversial.

“She always said she faced three biases; a woman, a mother and a Jew. Well it seems like what Judge Barrett is facing; woman, mother and Catholic.”

Dolan complained that Barrett was mistreated during her prior confirmation hearing to become a federal appellate judge, saying some senators “were testing her on her faith.”

“That’s just out of bounds, folks,” he said.

“The constitution — and [Barrett] knows the constitution pretty well — says that there should be no religious test for candidates.”

Trump has also complained about anti-Catholic bias leveled against Barrett, a mother of seven.

Liberals and abortion rights advocates fear that Barrett tilting the court further to the right will eventually end the right to terminate a pregnancy. The Catholic Church opposes abortion.

Conservatives and pro-life activists who oppose abortion applauded Barrett’s nomination.

When he first ran for president in 2016, Trump vowed to appoint justices who’d vote to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.

“That will happen automatically, in my opinion, because I am putting pro-life justices on the court,” Trump said. “I will say this: It will go back to the states, and the states will then make a determination.”

During her earlier confirmation to the the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals in 2017, Barrett did not tip her hand on how she would rule on abortion cases — a standard answer for judicial nominees.

“All nominees are united in their belief that what they think about a precedent should not bear on how they decide cases,” Barrett said then.

Trump said he did not discuss abortion with Barrett before he nominated her.