One last hurdle for Barrett court confirmation

Democrats will do what they can to stall vote on Trump conservative pick

WASHINGTON— Republicans in the U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly Sunday to advance Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett toward final confirmation despite Democratic objections, just over a week before the presidential election. The vote was 51-48.

Barrett’s confirmation on Monday was hardly in doubt, with majority Republicans mostly united in support behind President Donald Trump’s pick. But Democrats were poised to keep the Senate in session into the night in attempts to stall, arguing that the Nov. 3 election winner should choose the nominee to fill the vacancy left by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Republicans are excited by the chance to install a third Trump justice on the court, locking in a conservative majority for years to come. Barrett’s ascent opens up a potential new era of rulings on abortion, gay marriage and the Obama-era Affordable Care Act, a case against which will be heard Nov. 10.

Vice-President Mike Pence would typically preside over the coming votes, but after several aides tested positive for the COVID-19, it was unclear whether he will fulfil his role for the landmark vote.

The judge picked up the crucial backing Saturday from Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, one of the last GOP holdouts against filling the seat in the midst of a White House election and with more than 50 million people already having voted.

Murkowski said she disliked the rush toward confirmation, but supported Trump’s choice of Barrett for the high court. “While I oppose the process that has led us to this point, I do not hold it against her,” Murkowski said.

Now the only Republican expected to vote against Barrett is Susan Collins, who faces a tight re-election in Maine. She has said she won’t vote for the nominee so close to the election.

Calling it a “sham,” Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York warned Republicans the only way to remove the “stain” of their action would be to withdraw the nomination.

Barrett, 48, presented herself in public testimony before the

Senate judiciary committee as a neutral arbiter and at one point suggested, “It’s not the law of Amy.” But Barrett’s past writings against abortion and a ruling on “Obamacare” show a deeply conservative thinker.

At the start of Trump’s presidency, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell engineered a Senate rules change to allow confirmation by a majority of the 100 senators, rather than the 60vote threshold traditionally needed to advance high court nominees over objections. With a 53-47 GOP majority, Barrett’s confirmation is almost certain.