South Winston Salem News

Davie County Republican Chairman Jon Welborn does not doubt that U.S Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett is the right choice for the job.

"Absolutely," Welborn told South Winston Salem News. "She is worthy and well qualified. She had bipartisan support when she was appointed to the federal bench by President Trump. She is intelligent and experienced in the law, having been a professor for a number of years, where she also received the highest accolades from her colleagues."

Welborn also said that there was no need for the U.S. Senate to delay Barrett's confirmation until after the presidential election, despite having done so four years ago.

Davie County GOP Chair Jon Welborn | facebook.com/jonwelborngop

"No, there was nothing inappropriate by confirming another justice prior to the election," Welborn said. "We are a country of laws and the laws of our land allow for such."

Welborn, a Mocksville trial attorney since 2014, has chaired the Davie County Republican Party's executive board since 2017. He also has been the North Carolina GOP 13th Congressional District vice chairman for more than three years.

Barrett, 48, a Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals judge since 2017, was sworn in on Oct. 26, as the 115th Associate Justice — and only the fifth woman - to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Her swearing-in followed the U.S. Senate's 52-to-48 vote to confirm Barrett, a week before the General Election and approximately four years since Senate Republicans refused to consider President Obama's nominee, saying it was too close to the election.

The Senate's confirmation came 30 days after Barrett's nomination to the nation's highest court by President Trump to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Welborn said that attempts to slow down Barrett's confirmation were based more on politics than any problem with Barrett.

"A majority of Democrats will oppose anything the President or the Republican [controlled] Senate wants," Welborn said, adding Democrats were assuming their own candidate, former president Joe Biden, would win the election.

Barrett is the first mother of school-aged children, including a child with special needs, to serve on the Supreme Court, and she is the only justice on the high court to not hold a law degree from Harvard or Yale.

"Clearly it may have given them a chance to fill the vacancy should somehow Biden win the election," Welborn said. "However, if the situation were reversed there is no way the Democrats would have let the seat go unfilled."