`i am not hostile to the aca', barrett says
No commitment to overturn Obamacare, court nominee says
WASHINGTON • President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett said on Tuesday at her U.S. Senate confirmation hearing she is not hostile to the Obamacare law, as Democrats have suggested, and declined to specify whether she believes landmark rulings legalizing abortion and gay marriage were properly decided.
Barrett, a conservative federal appellate judge, answered questions from senators for the first time on the second day of her Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing.
It gave Barrett a chance to respond to Democrats who have opposed her because of her potential as a justice to undermine the 2010 health-care law and its protection for patients with pre-existing conditions.
Trump has asked the Senate to confirm Barrett before the Nov. 3 election.
Barrett declined to say if she would step aside from any election-related cases that reach the court. The Republican president has said he expects the Supreme Court to decide the election’s outcome as he faces Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
Barrett said no one at the White House sought a commitment from her on how she would rule on that or any issue.
“It would be a gross violation of judicial independence for me to make any such commitment or for me to be asked about that case,” Barrett said.
Barrett declined to say whether she would consider stepping aside, as Democrats have requested, from an Obamacare case due to be argued at the court a week after Election Day in which Trump and Republican-led states are seeking to invalidate the law formally called the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Barrett noted that the new case centres upon a different legal issue than two previous Supreme Court rulings that upheld Obamacare, which she had criticized.
Barrett declined to say how she would approach the new case, but said, “I am not hostile to the ACA.”
Barrett also said the White House did not seek her assurance that she would vote to strike down the law.
“Absolutely not. I was never asked — and if I had, that would have been a short conversation,” Barrett said.
T he Affordable Care Ac t is Democratic former president Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement and has enabled millions of Americans to obtain medical coverage.
Republicans have a 53-47 Senate majority, making Barrett’s confirmation a virtual certainty. If confirmed, Barrett, 48, would give conservatives a 6-3 Supreme Court majority. She is Trump’s third Supreme Court appointment.
Like other Supreme Court nominees before her, Barrett opted to sidestep some questions on some matters that could come before the court.
IT WOULD BE A GROSS VIOLATION
OF JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE FOR ME TO MAKE
ANY SUCH COMMITMENT.
Abortion rights advocates have expressed concern that Barrett would vote to overturn the 1973 ruling called Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion nationwide. Asked about that ruling, Barrett said she would consider the various factors usually applied when justices weigh whether to overturn a precedent.
“I promise to do that for any issue that comes up, abortion or anything else. I’ll follow the law,” Barrett said.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, the panel’s top Democrat, asked Barrett whether she agreed with her mentor, the late conservative justice Antonin Scalia, that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided and should be overturned.
After Barrett declined to answer, Feinstein told her, “So on something that is really a major cause with major effects on over half of the population of this country — who are women, after all — it’s distressing not to get a straight answer.”