She added that, as a clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia, she worked on capital cases.
Barrett is strongly opposed to reaching a legal conclusion via any religious belief, Carozza said.
She believes that it is the "fundamental responsibility of the judge to do everything she can to keep her personal commitments from getting in the way of fidelity to what the law actually says, and what it meant to those who adopted it," he said.
"And I think Amy takes that very seriously. So she will not interpret a provision of the Constitution or a federal statute in a way that's simply designed to align with whatever her moral and religious beliefs are. She will be quite determined to set that aside."
Asked by Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) about abortion in 2017, Barrett responded that, if confirmed, she would "resolve any case, including abortion cases, by engaging in the judicial process, which includes examining the facts, reading the briefs, conducting necessary research, hearing argument, consulting with colleagues, and writing and/or reading opinions."
Barrett has been involved in multiple abortion cases at the Seventh Circuit, joining opinions or dissents that focused on Supreme Court precedent.
She heard a challenge to Chicago's eight-foot "buffer zone" rule, barring pro-life sidewalk counselors from approaching within eight feet of an abortion facility.
Barrett joined the court majority in upholding the city's rule, because of Supreme Court precedent in Hill v. Colorado. "While the Supreme Court has deeply unsettled Hill, it has not overruled the decision. So it remains binding on us," stated the majority opinion to which Barrett joined.
Barrett also joined Judge Frank Easterbrook's dissent in the case Planned Parenthood v. Commissioner of Indiana in June of 2018. Indiana had banned abortions that were based on the sex, race, or disability of a child, and had also required that the remains of aborted babies be cremated or buried.
Easterbrook-joined by Barrett-argued that Supreme Court precedent has not overturned sex-selective abortion or similar race or disability-based abortions. Regarding the fetal remains law, the court could not strike it down just by ruling that an unborn baby is not a person, Easterbrook said, noting that the courts elsewhere have upheld animal-welfare statutes out of respect for animals.
Barrett's religious beliefs have been the subject of some discussion and criticism of late. In her 2006 commencement address to Notre Dame Law graduates, she exhorted graduates to "always keep in mind that your legal career is but a means to an end," and "that end is building the kingdom of God."
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Barrett is also a member of the ecumenical group People of Praise, that has been described in the media as a "cult" where, according to a former practice, husbands and wives were given the Scriptural references of "heads" and "handmaidens." Members originally formed a covenant where they agreed to tithe, live according to Christian beliefs, and meet regularly for acts of service.
Barclay, who previously worked at the religious freedom law firm Becket, has represented people of various faiths, and said that the practices of People of Praise "are totally commonplace across a lot of different religious practices."
The group's beliefs-and Barrett's statement about "building the Kingdom of God"-are not uncommon, she said.
"Most religious people I know, and many non-religious people I know, view the work that they're doing as part of something greater than themselves, as a means of trying to give back to their community, trying to rise above their own self-interests," Barclay said.
"If we're going to cast aspersions on that, we're disenfranchising the majority of religious people and many non-religious people in America," she said.
Catholic University president John Garvey, who taught Barrett at Notre Dame Law School, wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that Barrett's religious beliefs cannot disqualify her from public office, under the Constitution.