THE latest nominee for the US Supreme Court has family roots in Ulster.

Amy Coney Barrett,who grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana, has family routes linking her to Ballyconnell, Cavan.

Her maternal great-grandparents are from the Cavan village, and she has Irish ancestry on her father’s side.

Most recently, she has spent as time as a judge in Chicago in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Mrs. Coney Barrett will replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died on September 18.

There has been controversy on the issue as it was revealed that on her death bed Justice Bader Ginsburg wrote a statement that said: "My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed”, according to her granddaughter.

There has been doubt across the USA with the speculation of Mrs. Coney Barrett being nominated to the Supreme Court as her nomination would firmly push the most powerful court in America to the Right.

Mrs. Coney Barrett is a conservative figure, and many believe she could have the power to overthrow Roe vs Wade, the law which controls abortion access in the United States.

This is a sharp contrast to the late Justice Bader Ginsburg, who was a strident feminist and a liberal, originally nominated to the supreme court by President Bill Clinton.