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US President Donald Trump has nominated Amy Coney Barrett, a favorite of social conservatives, to be the new Justice of the US Supreme Court.
Speaking at her side in the Rose Garden of the White House, Trump described her as a “woman of incomparable achievement.”
If confirmed by senators, Judge Barrett will replace liberal Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who recently passed away at 87.
The nomination will spark a bitter fight for confirmation in the Senate as the November presidential election approaches.
In announcing Judge Barrett as his nominee on Saturday, President Trump described her as a “stellar scholar and judge” with “unwavering loyalty to the constitution.”
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Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden urged the Senate not to “act on this vacancy until after the American people select their next president and the next Congress.”
“The Constitution of the United States was designed to give voters an opportunity to have their voice heard about who serves on the Court. That time is now and your voice must be heard,” he said.
If Judge Barrett is confirmed, conservative judges will have a 6-3 majority in America’s highest court for the foreseeable future.
The 48-year-old would be the third judge appointed by the current Republican president, after Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.
- Who is Trump’s choice for the Supreme Court?
The nine justices of the Supreme Court serve life appointments and their rulings can shape public policy on everything from gun and voting rights to abortion and campaign finance long after the presidents who appoint them leave office.
In recent years, the court has expanded gay marriage to all 50 states, allowed Trump’s travel ban to be imposed on primarily Muslim countries and delayed a US plan to cut carbon emissions.
Tough position for Democrats
Amy Coney Barrett has been on Donald Trump’s shortlist for Supreme Court vacancies for some time, but she was said to be the most appropriate replacement for Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
As of last week, that was no longer a hypothetical scenario.
Even before Trump reportedly chose Judge Barrett as his choice, conservatives were backing the nominee, whoever he was. And if they stick together, as all but two appear to be doing, their confirmation appears to be assured, either before the November election or in a subsequent “lame duck” Senate session.
The election of Judge Barrett puts the Democrats in a difficult position. They have to find a way to undermine support for the nominee without appearing to attack her Catholic faith or personal background, measures that could put some voters at risk in November. They will seek to delay proceedings as best they can, while focusing on issues like health care and abortion, which could be at the center of future legal battles with Judge Barrett in a court dominated by conservatives.
So they have to wait for Judge Barrett, or the Republicans, to make some kind of critical mistake. It is a difficult task, but at the moment it is the only play they have.
Who is Amy Coney Barrett?
After graduating from the University of Notre Dame School of Law in Indiana, he worked for the late Justice Antonin Scalia. In 2017, Trump nominated her to the Chicago-based Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
She is described as a devout Catholic who, according to a 2013 magazine article, said that “life begins at conception.” This makes her a favorite among religious conservatives eager to overturn the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion across the country.
LGBT groups have criticized his membership in a conservative Catholic group, the People of Praise, whose network of schools has guidelines that establish the belief that sexual relations should only occur between heterosexual married couples.
Judge Barrett ruled in favor of President Trump’s hardline immigration policies and voiced opinions in favor of expansive gun rights.
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Judge Barrett was clerk to the late Judge Antonin Scalia
Conservatives hope she will help invalidate Obamacare, the health insurance program introduced by President Trump’s Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama.
Some 20 million Americans could lose their health coverage if the court overturns the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
In a statement after his nomination, Biden focused on this issue, saying that Judge Barrett had a “written record” of opposing the ACA.
Judge Barrett said Saturday that her rulings as a Supreme Court justice would be based solely on the law.
“The judges are not legislators and they must be determined to put aside any political views they may have,” he said.
Battle for the Supreme Court
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Will Judge Barrett be confirmed?
The White House has begun contacting the Republican Senate offices to schedule meetings with the nominee, sources told CBS.
Courtesy calls are expected to begin Wednesday. The candidate will then be questioned by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which sits on 22 Republicans and Democrats.
Hearings typically last three to five days. Subsequently, the committee members will vote whether to send the nomination to the full Senate. If they do, all 100 senators will vote to confirm or reject it.
Republicans have a small majority of 53 senators, but it appears they already have the 51 votes needed for Judge Barrett to be confirmed.
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised to hold a confirmation vote before the November 3 election.
Barring one surprise, Democrats appear to have few procedural options to prevent her from sliding down the Senate to the Supreme Court bench.
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Why is the nomination controversial?
Since Ginsburg’s death from cancer on Sept. 18, Republican senators have been accused of hypocrisy for going ahead with a Supreme Court nomination during an election year.
In 2016, McConnell refused to hold hearings for Democratic President Barack Obama’s candidate for court, Merrick Garland.
The nomination, which came 237 days before the election, was successfully blocked because Republicans occupied the Senate and argued that the decision should be made outside of an election year.
This time, McConnell praised Judge Barrett’s nomination, saying the president “couldn’t have made a better decision.”
With less than 40 days to go until the 2020 election, Democrats say Republicans should defend their previous position and let the voters decide.
Biden has said that Trump’s efforts to appoint a judge were an “abuse of power.”
