Trump names his court choice
Barrett is a hero to many on right Conservatives see her as a likely champion for their pet issues on the nation’s top court.
WASHINGTON — In nominating Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Trump has chosen a well-regarded legal scholar who has strong appeal to conservatives and who almost surely would move the high court significantly to the right on abortion, guns and other high-profile issues.
If the Senate’s Republican majority holds to its plan to quickly elevate her to the Supreme Court, her confirmation to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg would mark the sharpest ideological shift in a new appointment in the nearly three decades since Clarence Thomas, a 43-year-old conservative, was narrowly confirmed to succeed liberal Justice Thurgood Marshall in 1991.
Barrett, 48, is a former Notre Dame law professor and a favorite law clerk of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who remains an icon in conservative legal circles, much like Ginsburg is regarded by liberals.
Barrett has a limited record as a judge with over three years on the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. But as a law professor, she wrote several lengthy articles on when justices should consider over
conservative justices on disputes over civil rights, voting rights, free speech and separation of church and state.
Barrett has also expressed willingness to overturn precedents that she believes are not in line with the Constitution, which conservative supporters and liberal opponents see as an indicator she would support overturning the 1973 landmark Roe vs. Wade ruling that established the right of women to have an abortion.
Barrett opened her remarks with a tribute to Ginsburg.
“Should I be confirmed, I will be mindful of who came before me. The f lag of the United States is still flying at half staff in memory of Ruth Bader Ginsburg to mark the end of a great American life,” she said.
She also tied herself to Scalia, her mentor, saying, “His judicial philosophy is mine too; a judge must apply the law as written. Judges are not policymakers, and they must be resolute in setting aside any policy views they might hold.”
The Republican-controlled Senate is expected to waste no time in confirming Trump’s pick. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) pledged to hold a vote on the f loor this year, and it is likely to occur before the Nov. 3 election.
“The Court, the Senate, and the American people — not to mention the nominee and her family — deserve a fair process that is focused on Judge Barrett’s qualifications. I hope all 100 senators will treat this serious process with the dignity and respect it should command,” McConnell said in a statement following the announcement.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said later Saturday that confirmation hearings would begin Oct. 12 and would last three to four days.
Senators will begin sitting down with the nominee for private one-on-one discussions in the coming week. And some Senate Republicans are f loating holding a vote Oct. 29.
Trump said last week that it’s important for the Senate to move quickly to install a ninth justice because the results of the 2020 election may be challenged in court. If a 4-4 split were to occur in the Supreme Court, a lower court ruling would stand.
Only two of 53 Republican senators — Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine — have said they don’t think the Senate should vote on a Supreme Court nominee before election day, leaving McConnell with the simple majority needed to approve a justice without Democratic support.
Moving on the nomination before the election avoids potential risks of a confirmation in the lameduck period before the president is sworn in, such as losing a Republican seat in the Arizona special election. Under Arizona law, the winner can be sworn in before the next Congress starts, narrowing Republicans’ majority.
Republicans would also probably be criticized if they lose control of the Senate or White House in the election, but confirm a justice anyway.
Ginsburg dictated a statement to her granddaughter in the days before her death that “my most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.”
Conservative groups have pledged millions of dollars to defend Barrett in the weeks to come. Liberal groups have similarly promised millions of dollars in an effort to block the confirmation. Barrett has already had a run-in with the highest ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who pressed Barrett at her 2017 confirmation hearing on whether her Catholic faith might affect her ability to be a fair judge.
Republicans began attempting to frame opposition to Barrett as about her faith even before Trump made his announcement. Democrats are expected to make the confirmation fight about how a 6-3 conservative tilt of the court could lead to changes to healthcare or abortion rights.
“The American people should make no mistake — a vote by any senator for Judge Amy Coney Barrett is a vote to strike down the Affordable Care Act and eliminate protections for millions of Americans with preexisting conditions,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement after the announcement. The court is scheduled to hear arguments in a case challenging the President Obama-era healthcare law the week after the election.
Democrats have lambasted what they call a rush to fill the seat, especially after Senate Republicans blocked Obama’s nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, from having a hearing or a vote when he was nominated in February 2016 because it was an election year.
“The American people deserve a voice in such a momentous decision,” McConnell said then. McConnell has said the 2020 situation is different regardless of proximity to the election because the Senate and the White House are controlled by the same party.
Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) called it a “blatant power grab” meant to subvert the will of voters.
“Just four years ago, Leader McConnell held open a Supreme Court seat for 10 months before a presidential election because he said time and again that, in an election year, we must let the American people decide. If confirming a Supreme Court justice 10 months prior to a presidential election would have denied the American people a voice, then isn’t he now denying the American people a voice by rushing to confirm a justice just weeks before a presidential election?” Jones said in a statement.
Democrats are expected to use a series of procedural tactics to draw out the confirmation process, and keep vulnerable Republican senators in Washington in the weeks before the election, but barring a disqualifying surprise that causes two more Republicans to defect there is little Democrats can do to stop a confirmation. McConnell eliminated the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees in 2017, which means it takes only 51 senators to secure a lifetime appointment to the bench.
Democrats had considered boycotting the confirmation hearings in a show of defiance, although that appears unlikely.
“I’m going to do that which will tell the public what this person is going to do — that’s strike down the Affordable Care Act and No. 2 is to go after Roe vs. Wade,” said Sen. Mazie Hirono (DHawaii). “I think it’s very important for the American people to know that the next nominee will have those positions, even if they will do everything to say ‘ no, no, no.’”
Polls in recent days show Americans of all political persuasions prefer to have the winner of the election fill the seat.