Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, speaking Friday at the University of Notre Dame, called for a renewed commitment to civil discourse just days after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Barrett, promoting her new book Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court and Constitution, told a packed auditorium of students that political violence, alongside online vitriol, is eroding the foundations of American society.
“Too often when I look around the country, political violence is the most grotesque symptom of it, but there are others, too, just in online conversations and the way that people treat those with whom they disagree,” Barrett said. “And that’s actually one of the points that I try to make in the book is that’s just not a way to run a society.”
The justice’s remarks came only two days after Kirk, the founder of the conservative youth group Turning Point USA, was shot while addressing students at Utah Valley University.
Kirk, a leading figure in the movement to rally young conservatives, was gunned down mid-speech in what authorities have described as a targeted political attack.
On Friday, law enforcement officials announced the capture of Tyler Robinson, the suspect in Kirk’s killing. His arrest brought some closure to a week marked by shock and outrage from conservatives who view the murder as part of a broader climate of hostility toward those on the right.
Barrett, who has herself faced threats since joining the nation’s highest court, was asked about her personal security during the Notre Dame event. She responded with confidence but also acknowledged the heightened risks faced by public officials.
“I’m in very good hands, so I feel safe, but we do have round-the-clock security,” she said.
Her comments underscored a growing unease over safety for members of the judiciary. In 2022, a man carrying weapons was arrested outside the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh with the intent to assassinate him. Earlier this year, another man pleaded guilty to carjacking the security detail stationed outside Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s residence.
The threats to Supreme Court justices and the murder of a prominent conservative activist have intensified concerns over a culture of escalating political violence.
For Barrett, the answer lies not in retreating from public life but in recommitting to the principles of respectful debate and dialogue that undergird the rule of law.
Her call for civility also reflects a broader concern among conservatives that disagreement in today’s America too often leads not to spirited discussion but to character assassination, harassment, and, in the most tragic cases, deadly violence.
Barrett, who has long framed her judicial philosophy in terms of humility and respect for differing views, reminded students that a society cannot function when disagreement is met with hostility rather than reason.
“It’s just not a way to run a society,” she said, echoing the central argument of her book.
Kirk’s death, and Barrett’s pointed warning, may stand as a sobering reminder that the health of American democracy rests not only on its laws and institutions, but also on the willingness of its citizens to see opponents as neighbors rather than enemies.
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