5 conclusions from Amy Coney Barrett’s first Senate hearing

(CNN) –– The first day of the confirmation hearings of Amy Coney Barrett, appointed to the Supreme Court by President Donald Trump, featured many intense speeches. The vast majority of whom focused more on next month’s presidential election rather than Barrett.

Democrats focused on the Affordable Care Act and Trump’s endorsement of a lawsuit that would invalidate the law. Precisely, a hearing scheduled for next November 10. For their part, Republicans defended the decision to confirm Barrett very close to the election. They also sought to pre-empt any questions about their Catholic faith, primarily by criticizing Democratic comments from 2017.

In fact, it is not surprising if viewers sometimes forgot that it was a confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court and not a political convention.

These are the 5 conclusions of the first day of the hearings in the Senate Judicial Committee for the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.

Everything is over except politics in Amy Coney Barrett’s hearing

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham acknowledged the main challenge at the beginning of the confirmation process, which will last four days: What happens in the courtroom will not change the opinion of anyone on the committee.

“It’s probably not trying to persuade each other, unless something really dramatic happens,” Graham said. “All Republicans will vote yes and all Democrats will vote no.”

As a result, both sides have their sights set on the elections with only three weeks to go. This, while they debate on the one designated to the Supreme Court and they interrogate it during the next two days.

Four Republicans on the commission, including Graham, are seeking reelection next month. And Senator Kamala Harris of California is the Democratic vice presidential candidate.

The Democrats clearly focused on the threat Obamacare faces. This is when a case led by Republicans – and backed by Trump – to overturn it comes before the Supreme Court just a week after the election. The message that health care is at risk for millions of Americans helped Democrats win over voters during the 2018 election and win back the House of Representatives.

For their part, Republicans criticized Democrats for the attacks on Barrett. Especially because of their faith. All of this while also frequently citing the bitter 2018 contest for confirmation from Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who aided Republicans in several 2018 Senate races in the red states.

“We all saw Judge Kavanaugh’s hearings,” said Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana. «It was a freak show. It looked like the Cantina Bar scene from Star Wars.

Democrats give personal speech to protect health care

The Democrats showed a united front and an organized message, perhaps surprising. Posters strewn across the middle of the stage showed the faces of people who depended on the Affordable Care Act for medical care.

A Democratic commission aide said the decision to use personal stories came in an effort to make Barrett’s confirmation as tangible as possible for people. And in that sense, he focused on “the real-life effects of Judge Barrett’s decisions.”

Democrats feel that the healthcare angle, emphasizing Trump’s efforts and the impact of destroying Obamacare, is a clear political winner. Democratic leaders, including presidential candidate Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, agreed on the strategy, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

“They are trying to get the judge to get to court on time to make sure they can remove the Affordable Care Act protections,” Harris said of Republicans. “If they are successful, millions of people will lose access to health care at the worst possible time in the middle of a pandemic,” he insisted.

Democrats also used their health care argument to criticize Trump regarding the Covid-19 pandemic. Just another key Democratic message heading into the November elections. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota made a personal appeal after her husband tested positive for coronavirus earlier this year.

“He ended up in the hospital for a week, on oxygen, with severe pneumonia, and months after he was infected, I discovered that the president knew that it is transmitted in the air, but he did not tell us,” Klobuchar said.

When asked about Democratic unity after the hearing, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin responded, “It’s a bit surprising, isn’t it?”

Republicans seek to discuss religion at Amy Coney Barrett’s first hearing

In their opening remarks, Republicans criticized Democrats for earlier questions about Barrett’s Catholic faith. As well as the stories about his association with the Christian group People of Praise.

“There are places where this commission has acted as if it was the commission’s job to delve into people’s religious communities. That’s crazy, ”said Senator Ben Sasse, R-Nebraska.

At Monday’s hearing, however, only Republicans, not Democrats, discussed religion. Barrett also touched on religion in his opening statement, during which he said he believes in the power of prayer.

Still, Republicans had a lot of material from past hearings to attack Democrats. Among them, Barrett’s confirmation hearing in 2017 for the federal appeals court, when the panel’s top Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, said, “The dogma lives strongly within you.”

Sen. Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, accused Democrats of “a pattern and practice of religious intolerance.”

Criticism linked to faith is more linked to the two missing days of interrogations than to the opening day speeches. Precisely because Democrats are likely to pressure Barrett for the Roe vs. Wade and other abortion cases.

Hawley criticized Senator Chris Coons, D-Delaware, for saying that a previous Supreme Court case ––Griswold v. Connecticut, which gave married couples the right to obtain and use contraception–– was in danger of being overturned.

Hawley claimed the reference was “another blow to Judge Barrett’s religious faith,” in relation to Catholic doctrinal beliefs. But it is a case that has been raised repeatedly in judicial confirmation hearings.

Covid-19 looms over the audience

Three Republican senators have tested positive for coronavirus in the past two weeks, casting doubt on what appeared to be a safe confirmation.

That danger to Republicans seems to have passed by now. However, the threat of the coronavirus still looms over the audience. Precisely because two of the Republicans who tested positive are on the Judicial Commission.

One of those senators, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, spoke remotely at Monday’s hearing. The legislator said he hopes to participate in person on Tuesday. The other senator who tested positive, Mike Lee of Utah, was in person Monday and said his doctor had authorized him to attend.

Democrats attacked Graham for going ahead with the hearing despite positive evidence. And also for not requiring evidence from all the senators on the panel.

“This hearing itself is a microcosm of Trump’s dangerous ineptitude in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island.

Graham defended the audience. He said strict health protocols were being followed and argued that he was going to work to do his homework just like millions of Americans. As organized, no member of the public could attend. Which represents a change from normal confirmation hearings. So the senators were scattered around the huge courtroom.

The audience in times of pandemic also brought another notable relief. Barrett wore a black mask during the senators’ opening remarks. Other Supreme Court candidates have had to keep their faces straight as they were often attacked, but Barrett’s expressions were covered.

Barrett emphasizes his experience with Scalia

Monday’s hearing ended with Barrett’s opening statement. The appointee spoke about her work in the secretariat of the late Justice Antonin Scalia. She also referenced what her background would mean to the court, including that she would be the first mother of school-age children to serve as a Supreme Court Justice and the only sitting judge who did not graduate from Harvard Law School or Yale.

Barrett spoke broadly about his legal philosophy, which mirrors that of Scalia, his conservative mentor and anchor on the Supreme Court for years. “Policy decisions and government value judgments must be made by elected political branches and accountable to the people,” Barrett said.

He also referred to the debate over his religion at the end of his statement. “I believe in the power of prayer and it has been encouraging to hear that so many people are praying for me,” said Barrett.

Monday’s hearing was a day of rhetoric, with speeches by the senators and the designee. The real action begins Tuesday with questions.

Each of the senators will have a half hour to question Barrett on Tuesday and Wednesday. Republicans and Democrats will alternate. Then they will have another 20 minutes for a second round. With 22 senators on the panel, both sessions will end overnight, representing Barrett’s toughest test before his confirmation in high court.

Lauren Fox, Clare Foran and Manu Raju, all from CNN, contributed to this report.