As the Republican Committeeman for Iowa since 2008, and as the president of the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, I can think of no issue of greater singular importance than the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the United States Supreme Court.

We have witnessed more than 50 years of liberal advocacy on the Court, with decisions made up out of whole cloth instead of based on the Constitution. Justices, acting as legislators in robes, have changed the trajectory of the nation and declared war on the original intent of our Founding document. The confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett will spark a new era.

Justice Barrett is an originalist. She looks to the original meaning of the Constitution in reaching judicial determinations. She looks at the plain language of the law in writing opinions. She does not impose her own views, or her own personal agenda, on cases before the court. As conservatives, we can live with that approach because we know the Constitution is a fundamentally conservative document.

As the left seeks to galvanize the country as her confirmation hearing draws near, we are here to say grassroots conservatives are prepared to fight back. We are here to say to our outstanding conservative senator, Joni Ernst, that we have your back. We appreciate your brave statement of support for this nominee, and we will continue to fight on your behalf.

This is the moment we have worked for all these decades. It’s why so many of us were drawn to the Republican Party, became active in campaigns, worked countless hours to elect conservative candidates: to get to this moment, where a constitutionalist appointed by a conservative president could reshape the direction of the Court for the good of the country.

We also reject the notion that women appointed to the court must be liberal activists who desire to re-write the law instead of interpreting it. That has been the impression left by a Court composed of three liberal, female justices until the passing of Justice Ginsburg. Justice Barrett would provide gender diversity on the Court. She also provides a record of mentoring women during her tenure at the Notre Dame Law, where she served on the faculty. She has received universal acclaim from faculty colleagues, and law students, for her fairness and her example.

Nothing less than individual freedom is at stake in the upcoming confirmation battle – freedom to worship as we please, freedom to defend ourselves and our families, freedom to engage in political expression without interference from the government. These fundamental issues, and many more, will be decided by the Court. And because of the weighty nature of these issues, the Court will decide the direction of the country.

We elected Joni Ernst to the Senate in 2014 for a moment like this, to vote on nominees like this. We are grateful she will be our voice in support of the Constitution, and the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett.