Amy Coney Barrett visits at a dramatic moment

Jadyn Winsett twisted her new engagement ring around her finger, scanning the sea of navy sport coats, sailor stripes and string pearls at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library for a glimpse of a Supreme Court justice.

- BY SONJA SHARP

AL SEIB For The Times JULIA QUIROZ, left, waits in line with her mother, Gaby Quiroz, to get a signed book from the justice.

Across the room stood Amy Coney Barrett, the high court’s youngest member, who could hardly have picked a more dramatic moment to turn up.

A day earlier, Barrett joined the conservative majority in a decision that cleared federal immigration agents to detain people in Southern California simply because they have brown skin or speak Spanish.

The response across much of Los Angeles was outrage and concern that the 4th Amendment has been trampled.

But at the Reagan Library, the mood was triumphant.

Winsett, 23, and her fiance were among the admirers who gathered to hear Barrett speak about her new memoir, “Listening to the Law.” For the supporters who turned up, Barrett evokes values cherished by President Trump's faith-driven acolytes: beatific motherhood, Southern charm, Christian piety and steadfast constitutional originalism.

A Texas native, Winsett's partner had popped the question two days before at Yosemite National Park. She said the proposal was the highlight of the couple's California holiday. But the chance to meet Barrett at Reagan's final resting place was a close second.

AL SEIB For The Times BARRETT, the Supreme Court justice, promoted her book at the Reagan Library.

"I sent [my fiance] so many text messages in the span of a couple minutes just being excited that this event was going on, and we had to come," Winsett said. "I'm a really big fan of Justice Scalia...so knowing [Barrett's] book is supposed to bit of an expansion on Justice Scalia's 'Reading Law,' that's gonna be really cool."