Justice Barrett's husband says he will remain at his law firm
Judge Amy Coney Barrett with her husband, Jesse Barrett, in 2018. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s husband, Jesse Barrett, will remain at his South Bend, Indiana, law firm where he has practiced law for the last two years.
Barrett announced his intents to remain at SouthBank Legal—a trade name for the firm LaDue Curran & Kuehn—in a statement on the law firm’s website, Bloomberg Law reports.
“I look forward to continuing to help grow and lead SouthBank Legal’s litigation-related practice groups and serve our clients,” Barrett said in the statement.
It’s unclear whether Barrett will remain in Indiana or work for his firm in Washington, D.C., according to Bloomberg.
Barrett identifies himself as a partner at SouthBank Legal on LinkedIn, as well as an adjunct professor at the University of Notre Dame’s law school, where his wife was a law professor.
Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed to the Supreme Court Oct. 26.
He previously worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in Indiana for 13 years and as an associate at Barnes & Thornburg and Sidley Austin. Barrett clerked for Judge Paul Niemeyer of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Richmond, Virginia, from 1999 to 2000. He met his wife when they were law students at the University of Notre Dame, according to Newsweek.
The couple’s seven children include two who were adopted from Haiti and a child with special needs. When her nomination was announced, Amy Coney Barrett credited her husband for helping her manage a full life. He does far more than his share of work, despite a busy law practice, and is considered the better cook, she said.
Amy Coney Barrett isn’t the first justice married to a lawyer, Bloomberg Law points out.
The spouses of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had BigLaw backgrounds, although they moved to other careers. Roberts’ wife, Jane Sullivan Roberts, was a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman and is now a legal recruiter. The late Martin Ginsburg was a law professor and a partner at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson.
The husband of retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, John O’Connor, worked at Fennemore Craig in Phoenix and moved to Miller & Chevalier in Washington, D.C.
