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WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump announced Conservative Appellate Judge Amy Coney Barrett on Saturday (September 26) as his third appointment to the US Supreme Court, sparking a fight in the Senate led by Republicans to confirm it before Election Day in five years a half weeks.
Barrett appeared at the White House with Trump when he made the announcement.
“Today I am honored to nominate one of our nation’s brightest and most talented legal minds to the Supreme Court,” Trump said.
Turning to Barrett, Trump said he “is very eminently qualified for the job.” She and her lawyer husband have seven children, two of whom were adopted from Haiti, and they joined her at the ceremony in the White House rose garden.
If confirmed to replace liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died aged 87 on September 18, Barrett would become the fifth woman to serve on America’s highest judicial body and push her conservative majority into a dominant 6-3. With Trump’s fellow Republicans controlling the Senate, confirmation seems certain, although Democrats may try to make the process as difficult as possible.
“I love America and I love the US Constitution,” Barrett said, adding that she was “deeply humbled” by the trust Trump had shown in her.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell issued a statement Saturday praising the nomination.
“Justice Amy Coney Barrett is an exceptionally impressive jurist and an extremely qualified candidate for the United States Supreme Court,” McConnell said.
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Barrett, 48, was appointed by Trump to the Chicago-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 2017 and is a darling of religious conservatives, a key Trump voting bloc. Conservative activists have praised Trump’s selection, which came to light Friday night, while liberals have expressed dismay.
Like the other two Trump appointees, Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, Barrett is young enough to be able to serve for decades. Barrett is the youngest Supreme Court candidate since conservative Clarence Thomas was 43 in 1991.
The White House ceremony was decorated with American flags arranged similarly to the day President Bill Clinton nominated Ginsburg in 1993.
The selection kicks off a lot of activity that must take place before the final confirmation vote, including public hearings in the coming weeks before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
A White House source said the nominee on Tuesday will begin traditional courtesy calls to individual senators at their offices, with McConnell first. White House attorney Pat Cipollone is expected to lead the nomination.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, who mounted an irate defense of Kavanaugh during tense confirmation hearings in 2018, has signaled that he expects Barrett to be confirmed as a judge for the Nov. 3 election in which Trump is seeking a second term. .
Democrats are still furious over McConnell’s refusal in 2016 to consider Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court of President Barack Obama because it came during an election year. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has said the winner of the election should replace Ginsburg.
Republicans have a majority in the Senate of 53-47. Only two Republican senators have opposed continuing the confirmation process.
Advocates for abortion rights have raised concerns that Barrett, a devout Roman Catholic, may cast a vote to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade ruling that legalizes abortion across the country.
Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life, an anti-abortion group, expressed in a statement Saturday her confidence that Barrett “will fairly apply the law and the Constitution as written, which includes protecting our nation’s most vulnerable: our unborn children “.
Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote, a faith-based advocacy group, added: “Catholics are delighted with the expected nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett and believe she represents the best option to protect the rule of law and our rights. constitutional “.
Abortion rights groups and other liberal-leaning organizations announced plans for a protest against his nomination Sunday in front of the Supreme Court.
Barrett has championed conservative legal positions in three years at the bank, voting for one of Trump’s hardline immigration policies and showing his support for expansive gun rights. She was also the author of a ruling that makes it easier for college students accused of sexual assault on campus to sue their institutions.
A native of New Orleans, Barrett received her law degree from Notre Dame Law School, a Catholic institution in Indiana.
The other finalist Trump named to fill the vacancy was Barbara Lagoa, a Cuban-American federal appeals court judge in Florida whom he appointed last year.
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ELECTION-RELATED CASES
Trump has said he wants his nominee confirmed before the election so that she can participate in any election-related cases that reach the judges, which could cast a key vote in his favor. The outcome of a US presidential election has only been determined once by the Supreme Court, in 2000, when it achieved the victory of Republican George W. Bush over Democrat Al Gore.
Trump has repeatedly said, without proof, that voting by mail, a common feature of American elections, will lead to voter fraud. It has also refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power in the event of losing the elections.
This is the first time since 1956 that a President of the United States has moved to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court so close to an election. That year, President Dwight Eisenhower, three weeks before winning reelection, placed William Brennan on court through a procedure called “recess appointment” that bypassed the Senate, a tactic that is no longer available to install judges.
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An emboldened conservative majority on the Supreme Court could shift the United States to the right on hot issues by, among other things, curbing abortion rights, expanding religious rights, repealing gun control laws and backing new rights restrictions. voting.
On November 10, the court is scheduled to hear arguments in a major case in which Trump and his fellow Republicans seek to overturn the Affordable Care Act of 2010, known as Obamacare. If confirmed by then, the nominee could cast a casting vote.
The nomination could help Trump cement a key part of his presidential legacy, causing the federal judiciary to move conservatively, while also energizing his main supporters ahead of the election.
The Senate under the Constitution of the United States has the power to confirm or reject judicial candidates for a president. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has placed a high priority on obtaining confirmation of Trump’s conservative judicial elections.
