Trump's Sister Is Even More Accomplished Than He

At this point, it is fairly clear that Donald Trump has a huge — a yuuuuge — family. After three marriages, he has five children and eight grandchildren, which is really quite a lot of Trumps. However, not many know much or hear much about his older sister Maryanne Trump Barry, and she is very successful in her own right. In fact, it's surprising more people don't know of her, as she actually worked for the federal government as a senior judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

The Trump Republican legacy goes back a little bit to the 1980s, when the 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan, chose to nominate Maryanne Trump Barry to become a Federal District judge. Her career continued in 1999 when she was chosen by President Bill Clinton to serve as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, replacing a judge named H. Lee Sarokin, who retired in 1996. In this, she was confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate on September 13, 1999, and received her commission on September 22, 1999. Her career in law spans decades.

Barry presided over some major cases, from a plea bargaining deal regarding detectives in a drug deal to the conviction of the leader of the Genovese family, Louis Manna, who plotted to kill John Gotti, according to The New York Times.

On the other hand, she did hold some controversial views regarding partial-birth abortion, which were more-or-less a written defense of the procedure and, by extension, of Roe v. Wade. Her defense received some major criticism, though it ultimately resulted in nothing when the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to allow bans on partial-birth abortion after Justice Samuel Alito, whom Barry supported, joined the highest court.

As for her personal life, she was married twice — most notably, she was wed to John Barry, a trial and appellate lawyer, from 1982 to 2000, when he passed away from cancer.

Donald Trump has suggested his older sister as a potential nominee for Supreme Court, which actually may hold some legitimacy. At the moment, however, there are no available slots on the nation's highest court after the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia and his subsequent replacement nominee, Merrick Garland. Barry is also currently in retirement, so the likelihood the 79-year-old is interested in getting back into the game may prove negligible.

In 2004, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor presented Barry with an award for women who excel in law and public service. Barry's ceremonial response to the award was — for those who've heard Donald Trump discuss women — remarkably feminist: "I say to the women out there, remember how difficult it was for women like Justice O'Connor starting out. ... Even though she graduated with top grades, she had to take a job as a legal secretary. Remember how far we have come."

So yes, Donald Trump has an older sister who is as accomplished — if not more accomplished than he — and she seems to have some real feminist values. This might render the Trump family just a little more intricate than commonly understood, which in this instance, is a very good thing.

Editor's note: This article has been updated from its original version.