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REMAIN: Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, warns that the corona infection boom will not slow down the appointment of a new conservative justice to the US Supreme Court before the November 3 election. Photo: MICHAEL REYNOLDS / EPA
The leader of the Republican majority in the Senate, Mitch McConnell (78), now warns that the 100 senators cannot physically meet until October 19 at the earliest.
The reason is a boom in corona infections among Republican senators.
But McConnell also says he’s still fully committed to getting the hearings and the vote to make conservative Amy Coney Barrett, 48, a new Supreme Court Justice ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election.
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“The Senate calendar will not interrupt the thorough, fair, and historically supported approval process,” McConnell wrote in a statement Saturday.
The infection situation
Actually, the Senate was going to meet for a week. It doesn’t work, and the main reason is that three Republican senators in the last few days have tested positive for corona, and that the general infection situation makes it unsafe to collect.
For 14 days, there will be no voting in the upper house of the United States House of Representatives.
THE TRUMP CANDIDATE: Amy Coney Barrett (48) is President Donald Trump’s candidate for a new Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Photo: Alex Brandon / AP
It was on Saturday, September 26, when Catholic, anti-abortion, and judge Amy Coney Barrett officially became President Donald Trump’s candidate to fill the post of liberal beacon and icon Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who recently passed away, aged 87. .
Trump nominates Amy Coney Barrett as Supreme Court Justice
According to the Washington Post, Barrett tested positive for corona this summer but should have recovered.
Got infected
But it could also indicate that it was during Barrett’s ceremony on the lawn in front of the White House that several of the most famous Republican politicians were infected, including the president himself and one of his most famous supporters, the former governor of New Jersey, Chris. Christie.
Television images show that many of the participants were not wearing masks, that many were closer than one meter to each other, and that several were hugging each other.
The Democratic Party, no less represented by presidential candidate Joe Biden, has vigorously protested Barrett’s rush appointment. They believe that the American people should have a voice in the presidential election and that the winner should nominate the new judge.
Justice Committee
Senators Thom Tillis and Mike Lee are on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which handles Barrett’s recommendation for a Senate vote in plenary.
The third senator infected by Republicans is Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, but he was not on the justice committee and did not attend Barrett’s ceremony last Saturday.
On Friday, the chairman of the Justice Committee, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said the four-day hearings, scheduled to begin Oct. 12, will proceed as planned.
If the entire committee cannot meet physically, there will be digital hearings, Graham said. Senators Tillis and Lee were quarantined yesterday for ten days, just in time to reach the hearings.
– Too dangerous
“If it’s too dangerous for the Senate to meet, and it’s too dangerous to hold committee hearings,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement Saturday.
“The monomaniacal attempt by Leader McConnel and committee leader Graham to get Judge Barrett approved at all costs unnecessarily threatens the health and safety of Senators, staff and all who work in the Capitol Building,” continues Schumer .
Republicans currently have 53 of the 100 senators. Therefore, they can only afford to lose three senators before the majority resign. Two senators, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, have already said they will vote against approving Amy Coney Barrett before the presidential election.
The outburst around Trump is growing: at least six were at the same Barrett ceremony
If only one Republican senator turns around, Barrett can only hope that Trump is reelected on November 3; otherwise it can only be one of the nine judges, at least this time.
Conservative judges
So far, Trump has proposed, and been appointed, two Supreme Court justices: Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. They are both considered conservative. Liberal Americans fear that Barrett’s appointment will tip the court in an even more conservative direction, in the sense that six of the nine justices will be counted on the conservative side.
