Amy Coney Barrett
How Judge Barrett rules, drawn from 29 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Barrett no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Barrett decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Textualist reading of statutes and regulations, with marked skepticism of agency requests for deference: she declines to defer where the traditional tools of construction yield a single answer, reserving deference for genuinely ambiguous text.
“Auer only applies, however, to agency interpretations of genuinely ambiguous regulations”
She requires expert evidence when causation lies outside ordinary experience and the circumstantial record leaves several plausible explanations. A jury cannot bridge that evidentiary gap through speculation.
“If the circumstantial evidence in a case would require a lay juror to engage in ‘pure speculation’ to find causation, then expert evidence is necessary under Indiana law.”
Procedural preferences
Strict invited-error / waiver enforcement: a party who affirmatively urges the trial court to take an action cannot later complain on appeal that taking it was error. She distinguishes waiver (which extinguishes the error entirely) from mere forfeiture (reviewed for plain error).
“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.”
She does not let a party use reconsideration to supply evidence that was available when the issue was first briefed. A litigant seeking to compel arbitration must establish its right to enforce the agreement in the initial 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.”
She treats an appearance of partiality as consequential where the trial judge has broad sentencing discretion. Undisclosed communications with the prosecuting office required resentencing by a different judge even though they concerned other cases.
“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”
“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 no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.