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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett said Tuesday she did not engage with the White House on how she would rule on Obamacare or election-related disputes and refused to tell the Senators if you believe in historic rulings legalizing abortion and gay marriage was decided correctly.
Barrett chose not to say whether he would step aside from participating in a major Obamacare case to be discussed on Nov.10 or in any dispute arising out of the Nov.3 election, as Democrats have requested, as he answered questions. for the first time. on the second day of your Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing.
The marathon of interrogations gave the conservative U.S. appeals judge the opportunity to respond to Democrats who oppose her because they fear she will cast a decisive vote to repeal the 2010 healthcare law formally called the Care Act. Affordable Health Care and its protections for people with pre-existing conditions. .
“I am not here on a mission to destroy the Affordable Care Act,” Barrett said. “I am only here to enforce the law and comply with the rule of law.”
Trump has asked the Senate, controlled by his fellow Republicans, to confirm Barrett before Election Day. Trump has said he hopes the Supreme Court will decide the outcome of the election when he faces Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
Barrett said no one in the White House sought a compromise from her on how she would rule on that or any issue.
“No one has ever raised a commitment from me in a case or even raised a commitment in a case. I am 100 percent committed to judicial independence from political pressure,” Barrett said.
While the Democrats were persistent in their questioning, the audience maintained a respectful tone and Barrett remained composed as he nimbly dodged questions about his views on abortion, LGBT rights, gun control and voting rights.
In the case of Obamacare, Trump and the Republican-led states seek to invalidate the law. Barrett said the case focuses on a different legal issue than two previous Supreme Court rulings that confirmed Obamacare that she has criticized.
The law, signed by Trump’s Democratic predecessor Barack Obama, has allowed millions of Americans to get health coverage. Democrats have criticized Trump for trying to kill Obamacare amid a deadly pandemic.
By refusing to commit to standing aside in politically charged cases in light of his nomination so close to an election and comments made by Trump on the issues, Barrett said he would follow the rules that give judges the final say on the issue. recusal amid questions about fairness.
Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate, making Barrett’s confirmation a virtual certainty. If confirmed, Barrett, 48, would give the Conservatives a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court. She is Trump’s third appointment to the Supreme Court.
ABORTION RULE
Abortion rights advocates fear Barrett will vote to overturn Roe v. Wade of 1973 that legalized abortion across the country. When asked about the ruling, Barrett said he would consider the usual factors on whether a precedent should be reversed.
“Judges can’t just wake up one day and say, ‘I have an agenda, I like guns, I hate guns, I like abortion, I hate abortion,’ and walk in like a royal queen and impose, you know, her will. in the world, “Barrett said.
But Barrett indicated that Roe v. Wade was not a “super precedent” that could never be overridden.
“I’m answering a lot of questions about Roe, which I think indicates that Roe doesn’t fall into that category. Scholars across the spectrum say that doesn’t mean that Roe should be overridden, but descriptively it means that it’s not a case. the world has accepted, “Barrett said.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the panel, asked Barrett if she agreed with her mentor, the late Conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided and should be overruled.
After Barrett eluded him, Feinstein told him that “it’s distressing not to get a direct answer.”
Barrett, a devout Catholic and a favorite of religious conservatives, said she could put her religious beliefs aside when making court decisions.
“I see as different my personal moral religious views and my task of applying the law as a judge,” Barrett said, adding that she hoped that as a nominee her religious faith would be “caricatured.”
Barrett also declined to say whether he agreed with Scalia that the 2015 Supreme Court ruling Obergefell v. Hodges who legalized same-sex marriage across the country was wrongly decided.
“I do not have an agenda and I want to make it clear that I have never discriminated based on sexual preference and would not discriminate based on sexual preference,” Barrett said.
When asked about George Floyd, a black man killed by Minneapolis police in May in an incident that sparked widespread protests, Barrett called the issue “very, very personal to my family” because among his seven children, two, adopted from Haiti, they are black. Barrett said that she and one of her daughters, Vivian, cried together after watching the video.
Barrett said racism persists in the United States, but declined to comment on whether it is systemic or how it should be addressed.
Trump nominated Barrett for a lifetime court seat on Sept. 26 to replace the late Liberal Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The four-day confirmation hearing is a key step before a full Senate vote in late October on Barrett’s confirmation.
(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York and Lawrence Hurley and Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Edited by Will Dunham)
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