Supreme Court Nominee Amy Coney Barrett Faces Senate Despite Virus Concerns

Confirmation hearings for US Supreme Court candidate Amy Coney Barrett will begin when a divided Senate faces the election of US President Donald Trump to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and cement a Conservative majority before Election Day.

Barrett, a federal appeals court judge, will tell the Senate Judiciary Committee that she is “eternally grateful” for Ginsburg’s pioneering path as a woman.

But she is determined to keep the perspective of her own mentor, the late Conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, and “apply the law as it is written,” according to her opening remarks prepared for the hearings, which begin on Monday (local time) when the country is in the grip of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Courts are not designed to solve all problems or correct all errors in our public life,” Barrett says in comments, which The Associated Press obtained.

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Republicans, who control the Senate, are moving at a furious pace to seat Barrett ahead of the Nov.3 election to secure Trump’s election and hear a high-profile challenge to the Affordable Care Act. and any challenge related to the elections.

Democrats are trying in vain to delay fast-track confirmation by raising new concerns about the safety of meeting during the pandemic after two Republican senators on the panel tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Utah Senator Mike Lee and North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis have not said whether they will attend in person.

Lee’s spokesman said the senator has no symptoms but would make a decision on whether to attend Monday morning, based on his doctor’s orders.

A spokesperson for Tillis did not respond to multiple requests for comment. They both tested positive 10 days ago.

Key Democrats stay away. California Sen. Kamala Harris, a Democratic vice presidential candidate and committee member, plans to participate remotely from her Senate office due to coronavirus concerns, her spokeswoman said Sunday.

The committee issued a letter from the Architect of the Capitol on Sunday saying that the courtroom was installed in consultation with the Office of the Physician Assistant with adequate distance between seats and air ventilation systems that meet or exceed the standards of the industry.

“We are going to work safely,” committee chairwoman Lindsey Graham from South Carolina said on Fox News Channel. Sunday morning futures. He said he took a coronavirus test last week and is “negative.”

Trump chose the 48-year-old judge after the death last month of Ginsburg, a liberal icon.

It is the opportunity to secure a conservative majority in court over the next several years with its third judge.

Outside groups are pushing Democrats to make a strong case against what they call illegitimate confirmation, when people are already voting in some states, saying the winner of the presidency should choose.

No Supreme Court judge has ever been confirmed this close to a presidential race.

“The public is with them that this should not happen before the election,” said Brian Fallon, executive director of Demand Justice, which advocates against the right-wing nominees.

The world will see Barrett in depth over the next three days in hearings like no other during the heated electoral environment and the pandemic that limits public access.

Faith and family accentuate her testimony, and she said she would bring “some new perspectives” as the first mother of school-age children in the nine-member court.

Barrett says he uses his sons as evidence when deciding cases, and wonders how he would view the decision if one of his sons was the party he was ruling against.

“Although I would not like the result, would you understand that the decision was reasonably reasoned and based on the law?” says in the prepared comments.

Catholic, she says she believes in the “power of prayer.”

Barrett’s religious views and Barrett’s past leadership role in a Catholic faith community pose a challenge to Democrats as they attempt to probe his judicial approach to abortion, gay marriage, and other social issues without deviating toward inappropriate issues of your faith.

Barrett typically bragged about his family and seven children.

But the White House event that announced his nomination, in which the majority of the audience did not wear masks, has been labeled a “super-spreader” of the coronavirus.

More than two dozen people linked to the Rose Garden event on September 26, including the two Republican senators, have contracted Covid-19 since then.

Barrett and his family were left without a mask at the event. She and her husband, Jesse, tested positive for the virus earlier this year and recovered, two administration officials said.

Democrats were already infuriated that Republicans are moving so fast by refusing to consider President Barack Obama’s candidate in February 2016, long before elections that year.

Barrett is the most outspoken anti-abortion Supreme Court candidate in decades and her vote could provide a majority to restrict, if not nullify, abortion rights.

Democrats have made it clear that they will pressure Barrett on health care, abortion and other issues where his vote could push the court further to the right.

Republicans will highlight Barrett’s belief in adhering to the text of the laws and the original meaning of the constitutional provisions, both trademarks of Scalia as well.