Concerned Women for America Bring Their Pink Bus to Liberty in Support of Justice Barrett
Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America, stepped off a big pink tour bus Friday afternoon to a crowd of Liberty students and faculty, showing support for Judge Amy Coney Barrett.
The crowd gathered on campus near the food court at Reber–Thomas to hear from Nance and other speakers and rally behind Judge Barrett as she begins her confirmation hearings, which started Monday. Nance informed the crowd why the nomination and confirmation of Barrett is important to conservative women throughout the United States.
“How great is it to have someone with our perspective of a working mother in the highest court of our country?” Nance said.
Nance emphasized how she believes Barrett will be able to originally interpret the U.S. Constitution as a justice and how important everyone’s vote is in the upcoming election.
Earlier in her career, Barrett served as a clerk for the late Justice Anthony Scalia before becoming a professor of law at the University of Notre Dame. In 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Barrett and she was confirmed by the Senate to the U.S. Court of Appeals as a circuit judge to the Seventh Circuit.
Liberty alum (’89) and member of Liberty’s board of trustees, Nance, focused on getting Liberty students involved, saying Liberty was where she found her voice.
“Liberty students are what I believe to be the epicenter for the Evangelical movement,” Nance said. “I came here as a blank slate — a young woman from Appalachia, a preacher’s kid with not a lot of means — and Jerry Falwell Sr. was very intentional on bringing women leaders to come speak to us, which sparked in me a desire to speak up.”
Along with speaking with students, Nance invited 200 Liberty students to join CWA at a ‘Women for Amy’ rally Monday Oct. 12 in Washington, D.C. during the first of the three-day confirmation hearing for Barrett. Students attending the event were taken from Liberty by bus to D.C. to participate in the rally and show their support.
Nance hoped that by engaging with Liberty students, she and the CWA organization could provide an opportunity for young Christian students, specifically women, to engage with the political culture.
“We want to make sure that we are training up young champions for Christ and engaging with you all because your voice is big, and you have opportunities not just now, but as the future leaders of this country,” Nance said.
Annabelle Rutledge, director of Young Women for America with CWA, spoke at the gathering as well as Ashley Allen, junior and president of the Young Women for America (YWA) club at Liberty, both sharing with the audience the impact that Judge Barrett’s Christian values will have on the country.
“It’s an honor to be included in such a historic event as the first confirmation of a conservative woman on the Supreme Court and to bring awareness to that and get everyone excited about it,” Allen said.
Allen and the YWA club work alongside CWA to bring awareness to college-aged women how they can be involved in political issues that directly affect women, giving them an opportunity to be involved in political discussions and activities.
“It’s not just about one woman, but it is a win for all Christians, and I want that to be the driving force behind all of this,” Allen said.
Nance and her team shook hands with attendees and provided supporters free “Women for Amy” shirts to wear throughout the day and at the rally on Monday.
“This is a moment that conservative women are eager to have their voices be heard, and it is really important to represent this group in America,” Nance said. “(Barrett) is someone we can really connect with and who understands our life experience as women and as a mother.”
Hattie Troutman is the Editor-in-Chief. Follow her on Twitter at @hattrout.