More than 250 figures from the US literary world have signed an open letter protesting the acquisition by Penguin Random House of a book by the conservative supreme court justice Amy Coney Barrett.
The hardline Catholic conservative was Donald Trump’s third appointee, her nomination rushed through by Senate Republicans after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a liberal lion, shortly before the 2020 election.
Barrett’s book deal, reportedly worth $2m, was revealed the following year.
The open letter focuses on Barrett’s most consequential moment on the court, her membership in the 6-3 majority which this June removed the right to abortion.
The signatories say “it is imperative that publishers uphold their dedication to freedom of speech with a duty of care”.
But, they say, “we recognize that harm is done to a democracy not only in the form of censorship, but also in the form of assault on inalienable human rights. As such, we are calling on Penguin Random House to recognise its own history and corporate responsibility commitments by reevaluating its decision to move forward with publishing supreme court justice Amy Coney Barrett’s forthcoming book.”
Samuel Alito, John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch also voted to overturn Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling which made abortion legal. The open letter says the justices thereby “dismantl[ed] protections for the human rights to privacy, self-determination and bodily autonomy along with the federal right to an abortion in the United States.
“… International human rights organisations widely recognise abortion access as a fundamental human right and have condemned the supreme court decision.
“In fact, Human Rights Watch, founded by Random House’s second publisher, Robert L Bernstein … notes that ‘the human rights on which a right to abortion access is predicated are set out in the [United Nations’] Universal Declaration of Human Rights’, a document to which Penguin Random House parent company Bertelsmann commits itself in … its code of conduct.”
Barrett’s book will reportedly consider “how judges are not supposed to bring their personal feelings into how they rule”.
But Barrett is a member of People of Praise, a secretive religious group. The open letter accuses her of “inflicting her own religious and moral agenda upon all Americans while appropriating the rhetoric of even-handedness – and Penguin Random House has agreed to pay her a sum of $2m to do it.”
The signatories add: “Many of us work daily with books we find disagreeable to our personal politics. Rather, this is a case where a corporation has privately funded the destruction of human rights with obscene profits.
“Barrett is free to say as she wishes, but Penguin Random House must decide whether to fund her position at the expense of human rights in order to inflate its bottom line, or to truly stand behind the values it proudly espouses to hold. We … cannot stand idly by while our industry misuses free speech to destroy our rights.”
A spokesperson told Publishers Weekly it was hoped the letter would “encourage others in the industry to speak out”. Penguin Random House did not comment.
Barrett has publicly addressed the subject of politics and the court. Last September, she told an audience in Kentucky that justices should be “hyper-vigilant to make sure they’re not letting personal biases creep into their decisions, since judges are people, too”.
She added: “My goal today is to convince you that this court is not comprised of a bunch of partisan hacks.”
The event was held at a centre named for a prominent partisan figure: Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate leader who blocked Barack Obama’s last nomination then saw three Trump picks safely on to the court.
As Barrett spoke, McConnell listened intently.
• This article was amended on 28 October 2022. Although a majority of its members are Catholic, People of Praise is an ecumenical faith group, not a Catholic one, as an earlier version said.
