Amy Coney Barrett
How Judge Barrett rules, drawn from 29 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Barrett left this court for the U.S. Supreme Court. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge Barrett
Amy Coney Barrett was a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Appointed by President Donald J. Trump, Judge Barrett received a commission on November 2, 2017. Judge Barrett left the court on October 26, 2020 on appointment to the Supreme Court of the United States.
How Judge Barrett decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Meza Morales, Barrett declined to defer to the agency’s interpretation of the administrative-closure regulations after applying the usual tools of construction to their text.
“Auer only applies, however, to agency interpretations of genuinely ambiguous regulations”
In Dalton v. Teva North America, Barrett affirmed summary judgment on Indiana products-liability claims because the plaintiff lacked expert testimony to show that the IUD’s alleged defect caused her injury; causation was not apparent to a lay juror on that record.
“Contrary to Dalton’s contention, the issue of causation in her case is not obvious. The district court was therefore correct to hold that Dalton could not prove her tort claims without expert testimony.”
Procedural preferences
In United States v. Barnes, she rejected a sentencing challenge after the defendant had repeatedly urged the district court to assign the disputed criminal-history points.
“Having specifically and repeatedly told the district court that it was appropriate to assign him a criminal history point for each of the marijuana offenses, Barnes cannot now complain that the court erred by agreeing with him.”
In Goplin v. WeConnect, she rejected an attempt to use reconsideration to introduce arbitration evidence the company could have presented with its first motion.
“WeConnect’s evidence was neither newly discovered nor unknown; moreover, it could easily have produced these documents and affidavits the first time around.”
Cautions
A sentencing enhancement needs findings connecting the evidence to the particular offense; appellate review cannot rest on guesses about what the trial judge may have thought.
“But the problem is that we don’t know what the district court thought.”
In United States v. Atwood, she ordered resentencing by a different judge because undisclosed communications with prosecutors made the recusal error consequential.
“Because of the judge’s broad discretion in sentencing, we conclude that Judge Bruce’s failure to recuse himself was not harmless error.”
Tester status neither defeats nor establishes standing. The plaintiff must still show a concrete, particularized injury, which a neutral legal barrier to using the defendant's services may foreclose.
“while tester status does not defeat standing, it does not automatically confer it either.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.”
“The district court's judgment is AFFIRMED”
“the judgment of the dis- trict court is AFFIRMED”
“we DENY the petition for review”
“The petition for review is DENIED.”
“The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.”
“We therefore AFFIRM the district court's grant of summary judgment to Norfolk.”
A historical record
Judge Barrett left this court for the U.S. Supreme Court. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled here. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.