MEMPHIS, Tenn. — “Rhodes Scholar” was a trending topic on Twitter after White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany mistakenly said Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett had been awarded the prestigious scholarship Thursday.
The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in England.
Barrett was a 1994 graduate of Rhodes College in Memphis, where she received a bachelor’s degree before attending law school at Notre Dame.
When a reporter questioned McEnany, she first consulted her notes, then said, “My bad.”
Despite not being a Rhodes Scholar, Barrett excelled as a student at Rhodes College, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor of Arts in English. She was elected to the Honor Council and to the Student Hall of Fame at the Memphis college and graduated at the top of her class at Notre Dame.
If confirmed, she would be the second Rhodes College alum to hold a seat on the United States Supreme Court, following Abe Fortas, who graduated in 1930 when it was called Southwestern College.
Twitter users, as expected, wasted no time in making jokes, and “Rhodes Scholar” quickly became the top trend in Politics.