Religious freedom has won some key battles recently

Catholic doctrine has been in the news a lot lately.

Last Tuesday, the Senate voted 55-43 to confirm Catholic nominee Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. Two days later, the Student Activities Commission at Georgetown University voted 8-4 not to de-recognize student group Love Saxa for its Catholic views of marriage.

Normally, the confirmation of a judge and the existence of a religious student group at a Catholic university would hardly seem worthy of breaking the internet, what with the latest Hollywood scandals and the Kardashians to keep up with.

But Barrett and Love Saxa brought Catholic doctrine to the forefront — albeit with assists from Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Georgetown student Jasmin Ouseph.

Barrett is not notably distinct from the other eminently qualified men and women who serve on the bench. She earned her law degree from Notre Dame Law School, clerked on the D.C. Circuit and for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, practiced law in D.C., and then entered academia and became a professor of law. As Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said last Monday, “Professor Barrett is a brilliant legal scholar who has earned the respect of colleagues and students from across the political spectrum.”