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Despite fierce opposition from Democrats, the Senate confirmed conservative attorney Amy Coney Barrett as Supreme Court Justice a week before the US presidential election. Donald Trump’s nominee will succeed the late icon of liberal justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The decision was made with the votes of 52 Republican members of the Senate, all 47 Democrats and one Republican voted against.
Judges are nominated by the President and appointed by the Senate. With Barrett’s appointment, the Conservatives win a dominant majority of six of the nine seats on the Supreme Court. That could influence the development of American society for decades.
Judges are appointed for life, and the Supreme Court often has the final say in controversial cases, including abortion rights, health care, and immigration policies.
Republican Senator Susan Collins voted against
Trump really wanted to fill the vacant position before the November 3 presidential election. He also explicitly referred to possible judicial processes related to vote counting that could end up in the Supreme Court.
Democrats around presidential candidate Joe Biden, however, demanded that only the winner of the election should settle Ginsburg’s successor. In the end, only Senator Susan Collins supported this view on the Republican side.
More recently, Democrats warned that with Barrett on the Supreme Court, President Barack Obama’s health reforms could fall and millions of Americans would lose their health insurance. The Trump administration is making another attempt to overturn the reform in the Supreme Court, with the first hearing due a week after the presidential election.
Trump only said last week that he expected the court to abolish “Obamacare.” He himself has been advertising his own health plan for years, but has yet to present it.
Liberals also fear that with Barrett and Tory dominance in the Supreme Court, the right to abortion and same-sex marriages could also be at risk.
In his hearing, which lasted for several days, Barrett consistently kept a low profile on controversial issues. Among other things, he did not want to say whether, in his opinion, the right to abortion or same-sex marriage is covered by the constitution. She herself is known as an anti-abortionist, but assured him that personal opinions will not influence her decisions.
Democrats were also outraged that Republicans in the Senate even refused to give an audience to Obama’s candidates for the Supreme Court in early 2016. They pointed out that in an election year the will of the people must first be known. Now they are moving away from that position with Barrett.
