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WASHINGTON: Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and others in his party on Saturday (September 26) criticized President Donald Trump’s election of conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, focusing in particular on the threat they said it would pose to healthcare for millions of people. American people.
Biden noted that even as the Trump administration is trying to bring down Obamacare in a case that the Supreme Court is due to hear on November 10, Barrett has a “written record” criticizing a fundamental 2012 ruling written by Chief Justice John Roberts that preserves the law formally. known as the Affordable Care Act.
Biden, who was seeking to defeat the Republican president on November 3, asked the Senate not to act on the court vacancy caused by the death of Liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg until after the November 3 election, allowing the winner makes the nomination.
“The Constitution of the United States was designed to give voters an opportunity to have their voice heard about who serves in court. That time is now and your voice must be heard,” Biden said.
READ: Trump announces ‘brilliant’ Conservative Justice Barrett as Supreme Court pick
Senate Republicans declined to consider President Barack Obama’s 2016 Supreme Court nominee, saying the winner of that year’s election should choose.
Trump’s election means he would replace Ginsburg, an advocate for gender equality and other liberal causes who died Sept. 18 at age 87, with a jurist who in many ways is his judicial opposite.
If confirmed, Barrett would give the court a conservative 6-3 majority. The implications for contentious issues such as abortion, LGBT rights, gun control measures, and healthcare have sparked a passionate reaction from both sides.
Democrats said Barrett would vote to dismantle healthcare during a coronavirus pandemic that has already killed more than 200,000 Americans.
“This nomination threatens to destroy the life-saving protections for 135 million Americans with pre-existing conditions along with all the other benefits and protections of the Affordable Care Act,” said the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.
READ: Amy Coney Barrett: US Supreme Court Conservative Religious Choice
Trump wants Barrett to be confirmed before the election. If so, he would be on the dock of Obamacare oral arguments, with the Republican-led states and the Trump administration trying to invalidate the law. A Democratic-led coalition of states seeks to preserve the law in litigation.
Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate and have vowed to move quickly on confirmation. They applauded Trump’s election.
“President Trump could not have made a better decision,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Senator Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Judiciary Committee that will conduct the confirmation hearings, added: “We move forward on this nomination knowing that the President has chosen a highly qualified person who will serve our nation well on the highest court in the country.” .
Trump’s critics have also raised concerns that a rushed confirmation process so close to an election runs the risk of further eroding the court’s reputation as independent.
But conservative and anti-abortion Christian activists, who praised the election, urged senators to act quickly and warned Democrats not to attack Barrett’s religious faith.
“We are confident that the pro-life majority in the Senate will act quickly to confirm it before the election,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion group that is launching a digital advertising campaign in support of Barrett.
Abortion rights groups said Barrett’s addition to the court could jeopardize the landmark 1973 ruling that legalized abortion across the country.
“The Supreme Court plays a vital role in protecting and defending civil rights and liberties – including reproductive rights – for everyone in the United States. We cannot go forward with a nomination that will impact people’s lives for generations.” said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights.
