Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett coming to Northrop; protesters preparing

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett's upcoming speech has attracted lots of attention long before her arrival Oct. 16 on stage at the University of Minnesota's Northrop auditorium.

Student groups plan a protest and a boycott and have sought a rescission of the justice's invitation.

Mira Altobell-Resendez, a graduate and now employee at the U, is a member of Students for a Democratic Society, a group intending to protest on the plaza in front of Northrop during the justice's 90-minute speech.

"Our plan is to make a lot of noise outside, to make a large display that we won't accept her presence on our campus, or we won't accept it quietly at least," Altobell-Resendez said. "The decisions she makes on the court make other people's lives harder."

Interim Law School Dean William McGeveran defended the invitation. "As a law school, it's valuable for our students to be able to hear directly from one of the nine most important jurists in our country," he said.

McGeveran also noted that speakers of various viewpoints visit the law school, including recently Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, a progressive prosecutor.

Coney Barrett's appearance is part of the Robert A. Stein Lecture series. Stein, who will be on stage with Coney Barrett and ask questions, was dean of the University of Minnesota Law School for 15 years and established the lectures that have brought to campus Justice Elena Kagan in 2019, Chief Justice John Roberts in 2018 and Justice Sonia Sotomayor in 2016.

McGeveran noted that the school's sequence of justices is intentional, alternating between the more liberal and conservative viewpoints. Sotomayor, who is liberal, was followed by the conservative Roberts, who was followed by the more liberal Kagan.

Former President Donald Trump nominated Coney Barrett in September 2020. She's been part of a 6-3 super majority that overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and earlier this year struck down affirmative action, outlawing consideration of race in college admissions.

U public relations director Jake Ricker was also supportive of bringing Coney Barrett to the school. "As a university, our commitment and our responsibility is to bring new ideas and different world views to campus," he said.

Free tickets to the event became available last month and all 2,680 have been reserved. Coney Barrett is not being paid for her appearance, according to a law school spokesperson.

Student groups have been organizing in protest.

Students for a Democratic Society told supporters to claim the free tickets. "We were encouraging people to reserve tickets and not show up to try and make it so it's as empty of a room as possible," Altobell-Resendez said.

Another group, the Young Democratic Socialists of America at the University of Minnesota, posted an online petition asking the U to rescind Coney Barrett's invitation because "Hate has no place at the University of Minnesota campus."

The group sought 400 signatures and received support from Minneapolis City Council Member Robin Wonsley, who posted the petition on social media and asked others to sign it. Wonsley didn't respond to a request for comment.

The event attracts judges, justices and lawyers from the highest levels of the Minnesota legal community, and security will be tight.

Ricker said the Supreme Court police and the U.S. Marshals Service planned the security for the event with campus police.

McGeveran was more blunt, saying, "Anyone who prevents others from seeing or hearing the lecture or prevents her from speaking, that's not allowed."

As for a protest outside Northrop, Ricker cited the First Amendment. "We certainly support the right to peacefully and lawfully assemble," he said.

Altobell-Resendez said the student group knows cancellation of the speech is unlikely, so they plan to voice opposition. Coney Barrett "was appointed by Donald Trump, who stands pretty much against everything that any progressive group stands for," Altobell-Resendez said.

Before her ascension to the high court, Coney Barrett practiced law for two years in Washington, D.C., then joined the faculty of Notre Dame Law School. She was named to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 2017.

Coney Barrett follows Justice Brett Kavanaugh to Minnesota. He spoke in July at the Eighth Circuit Judicial Conference in Bloomington.