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Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett returned to the Capitol for a third day of confirmation, called “blatantly pro-life” by her Republican Senate champion, while Democrats are running out of time to stop her swift confirmation.
Senators are trying to delve into the conservative judge’s perspective on abortion, health care, and a potentially contested presidential election, but Barrett has been rejecting questions in long and animated exchanges, insisting that he would not bring a personal agenda to court but that would decide cases “as they come.”
His nomination by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, to replace the late Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, has halted other legislative matters, as Republicans are excited about the prospect of locking in a majority race of the Conservative court. 6-3 to confirm his Democratic objections before Election Day.
“She will go to court,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, chair of the committee, said as the proceedings began Thursday (NZT) after a nearly 12-hour session the day before.
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Graham said Trump had made history by nominating someone “who is blatantly pro-life.” But Graham said, like Barrett, that she could put her personal views aside when deciding abortion cases. Democrats worry that Barrett will vote to undermine abortion rights.
Barrett’s nomination has been the center of attention in a Capitol closed mostly by Covid-19 protocols, frustrating Democrats who are virtually powerless to prevent a judge from confirming. They warn that he will sit on the court in time to cast a vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act next month, causing millions of Americans to lose coverage during a pandemic.
“People are fed up,” said Senator Dick Durbin, criticizing the Republican Party’s priorities to force Senate action as the country suffers from the pandemic and Congress disputes over approval of additional financial aid.
Bill clark / ap
Amy Coney Barrett speaks on the third day of her confirmation hearings.
The 48-year-old appeals court judge stated her conservative views in often colloquial language, but rejected many details Wednesday. He aligns himself with the late Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative mentor, and declined to say whether he would abstain from any election-related cases involving Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden.
“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 as a royal queen and impose her will on the world,” Barrett said. to the committee during their second day of hearings.
“It’s not Amy’s law,” he said. “It is the law of the American people.”
Trump seemed pleased with her performance. “I think Amy is doing incredibly well,” he said at the White House as he left for a campaign rally.
Trump has said he wants a seated judge for any dispute arising out of his heated campaign against Biden, but Barrett testified that he has not spoken to Trump or his team about election cases. Pressured by Democrats, she ignored questions about securing the election date or preventing voter intimidation, both set out in federal law, and the peaceful transfer of presidential power. She refused to agree to recuse herself from any post-election case without first consulting the other judges.
Bill clark / ap
Senator Lindsey Graham questions Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett on the third day of her confirmation hearings.
“I cannot offer an opinion on the challenge without shorting out the whole process,” he said.
A frustrated Senator Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the panel, almost implored the nominee to be more specific about how she would handle the iconic abortion cases, including Roe v. Wade and the Pennsylvania Planned Parenthood v. Casey follow-up case, which confirmed it. largely.
“It is distressing not to get a good answer,” the US senator from California told the judge.
Barrett didn’t flinch. “I don’t have an agenda to try and quash Casey,” he said. “I have an agenda to adhere to the rule of law and decide cases as they arise.”
He later declined to characterize the Roe v. Wade who legalized abortion as a “super precedent” that should not be revoked.
The Democrats had no such reluctance.
“Make no mistake about it,” said California Senator Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, who appeared remotely due to Covid-19 concerns.
Allowing Trump to take over with Barrett “poses a threat to safe and legal abortion in our country,” Harris said.
The Senate, led by Trump’s Republican allies, is pushing Barrett’s nomination to a snap vote before Nov. 3, and ahead of the latest challenge to the Affordable Care Act, which the Supreme Court will hear a week. after the elections. Democrats warn that she would be a vote to undo the “Obamacare” law.
“I am not hostile to the ACA,” Barrett told senators.
The judge, accompanied by her family, described herself as taking a conservative and originalist approach to the Constitution. A former law professor, she told senators that while she admires Scalia, she would bring her own approach.
