'I am proud to serve': Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett opens up about being on the bench

Justice Amy Coney Barrett has opened up to CBS News about life on the Supreme Court, and suggested she misses her life before she became a member of the high court.

In a Sunday interview promoting her new book, “Listening to the Law,” published by the conservative Sentinel imprint of Penguin Random House, Justice Barrett said she did not regret joining the bench but missed her life back in Indiana.

“I don’t regret it. I think it is really important work and I am proud to serve,” she said. “But there is something nice about our old life.”

She said she is happiest with her old friends who knew her before she became Justice Barrett after being sworn in to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2020.

The second newest justice to join the court, following President Joseph R. Biden’s appointment of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in 2022, Justice Barrett joked that she is by no means ready to retire.

“While I do feel older by the day, I haven’t gotten so old I’m thinking about retirement just yet,” she said.

Justice Barrett, who was appointed by President Trump during his first term, also defended criticism about the court moving to the right with its 6-3 Republican-appointed majority. She also said the justices decide the law when it comes to Mr. Trump’s executive order legal battles, and don’t pay attention to who is in office.

“Shifting to the right or shifting to the left is other people’s labels — or other people’s game. I don’t think of it that way. I just decide the cases as they come. I’ve been criticized by the right and by the left,” she said. “We have to tune those things out.”

“It’s not our job to survey and decide if the current occupant of an office is to form a political view, that is the job of journalists or other politicians or the job of the people. Our job is to decide these legal cases … we are trying to get the law right,” Justice Barrett said.

In her new book, Justice Barrett defends her decision to overturn abortion rights nationwide.

She also explains how she can be a woman of faith but still decide cases based on the law — pointing to the death penalty as an example.

“Listening to the Law” is set to be released on Tuesday.