‘Let’s Hear it for Amy Coney Barrett!’ Jamie Raskin Lauds Justice He Once Trashed for Being Part of ‘Illegitimately Composed’ SCOTUS

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) lauded a recent decision from Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett — whom he once denounced for being part of an “illegitimately composed institution rendering illegitimate decisions.”

Speaking on a panel at the Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington Friday, Raskin praised Barrett for being the decisive vote in a 5-4 decision — in what was a key ruling against President Donald Trump’s administration. Barrett sided with the Court’s liberals and Chief Justice John Roberts in ordering the White House to pay $2 billion to USAID contractors.

Raskin believed the Court should have come to a unanimous decision, but nonetheless praised Barrett for her decisive vote.

“It’s shocking that was a five-to-four decision instead of a nine-to-zero decision,” Raskin said. “It tells you what treacherous waters we’re in. But let’s hear it for Amy Coney Barrett standing up for the Constitution!”

But Raskin hasn’t always been such a fan of Barrett — or the Court on which she sits. Speaking at Amherst College in 2022, the House Democrat — who serves as ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee — called the Supreme Court “illegitimately composed institution rendering illegitimate decisions” and compared Barrett to Serena Waterford, who was a villain on Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale.

Despite having previously attacked the Supreme Court’s legitimacy, Raskin, on Friday, delivered an impassioned defense of the rule of law.

“What is the core of the [president’s] job?” Raskin said. “To take care that the laws are faithfully executed, to take care that laws are faithfully executed. Not distorted, and warped, and ravaged, and trashed and thrown away. So Donald Trump, somebody tell him, take care that the laws are faithfully executed! That’s your job!”

Watch above, via CSPAN Networks.