Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
GOP senators advance Barrett, despite boycott
WASHINGTON — Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans powered past a Democratic boycott Thursday to advance Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination to the full Senate, keeping President Donald Trump’s pick on track for confirmation before the Nov. 3 election.
Democratic senators refused to show up in protest of the GOP’s action to install Trump’s nominee to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
All 12 Republicans on the committee voted in favor of Barrett, a conservative judge. No-show Democrats left behind posters at their desks of Americans they say have benefited from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, now being challenged at the high court. Senators plan to convene a weekend session before a final confirmation vote expected Monday.
“Big day for America,” Trump tweeted after the committee vote.
Barrett, 48, would lock a 6-3 conservative court majority for the foreseeable future.
Republicans have bristled at Democrats’ claim that the Obama-era health law is in jeopardy if Barrett joins the court. But Trump told CBS’ “60 Minutes” that “it will be so good” if the court puts an end to the law. The court is set to hear a Trump-backed case against the health overhaul Nov. 10.
Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer of New York said the Senate’s Republican majority “is conducting the most rushed, most partisan and the least legitimate nomination to the Supreme Court in our nation’s history.”
“I think it’ll end. I hope that they’ll end it,” Trump said in comments released Thursday by the White House before the interview airs Sunday.
As the Senate committee met, protesters — some shouting “Stop the confirmation” — demonstrated outside the Capitol across the street from the Supreme Court. Some dressed as handmaids, an apparent reference to Barrett’s role
in a conservative religious group that once called high-ranking women members “handmaids.” Other demonstrators had “#SupportAmy” signs.
The protesters drowned out Democratic senators who had called a news conference to decry what they called a “sham” confirmation process.
Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer of New York said the Senate’s Republican majority “is conducting the most rushed, most partisan and the least legitimate nomination to the Supreme Court in our nation’s history.”
“Democrats will not lend a single ounce of legitimacy to this sham vote,” he said. Unable to stop the confirmation, Democrats have been trying unsuccessfully to stall the process so the winner of the White House race could name the new court nominee.
‘HISTORIC MOMENT’
With Republicans holding a 53-47 majority in the Senate, Trump’s pick for the court is almost certain to be confirmed. All Democrats are expected to oppose Barrett’s confirmation.
“This is a groundbreaking, historic moment,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the committee chairman. “We did it.”
Barrett, an appellate court judge from Indiana, appeared for three days before the committee last week, batting back Democrats’ questions. She was asked about her approach to legal questions surrounding abortion access, gay marriage and the nation’s tradition of a peaceful transfer of presidential power.
Trump has said he wants a judge seated in time to hear any potential disputes arising from the upcoming election. Barrett declined to say whether she would withdraw from participating in such cases.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said the court fight will be perhaps the “single most important accomplishment” of Trump’s presidency.
Republican senators ridiculed the Democrat boycott as election-year antics.
“Rather than show up and do their job, they continue the theater,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, pointing out the posters at the Democrats’ desks. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, called the boycott “a walkout on the American people.”
But Democrats on the committee insisted that the Republicans were rushing the nomination to tip the court even further to the right.
Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, called Barrett a “clear and present danger” to the values Ginsburg fought for on the court.
“I stand here for Justice Ginsburg,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., urging Americans to vote their protests at the ballot box.
VIEWS KEPT CLOSE
Many judicial nominees decline to discuss their views on various issues, saying they will consider the cases as they come. Barrett took a similar approach, drawing skepticism from Democrats because she had previously spoken out against abortion and past rulings on the health law.
Barrett released dozens of answers this week to additional questions that senators had posed, but her responses were similar as she declined to weigh in on whether the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion ruling is a “super precedent” of the court or whether the president could unilaterally change the date set in law for the election.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has praised Barrett as “exceptionally qualified” and defended his decision to push her nomination forward.
Republicans have focused on Barrett’s Catholic faith, calling her a role model for conservative and religious women.
Conservative nonprofits plan to spend about $30 million by month’s end advocating for Barrett’s confirmation, according to people familiar with the activities.
The money has financed a barrage of advertising and grassroots activity — mostly in battleground states — that is saturating television screens, social media feeds, Senate offices and roadside stops.
Also, liberal groups have spent millions of dollars opposing Barrett’s nomination.
After the death last month of Ginsburg, Demand Justice promised to spend $10 million opposing confirmation of any Trump nominee before the election. It also began a multimillion-dollar ad campaign opposing Barrett’s confirmation in Iowa, Arizona, Colorado and North Carolina.
‘NOT A FAN’
Republicans warn that Democrats will “pack the court” by adding more justices if they win the White House and the Senate, although key Democrats have not said that would be a priority.
The Democrats’ presidential nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, said last week that he’s “not a fan” of adding justices to balance the court ideologically. But during his interview with “60 Minutes,” an excerpt of which CBS released Thursday, Biden said he won’t rule out studying the addition of members as part of a commission he plans to name to look at court changes if he’s elected.
Biden said that the current system is “getting out of whack,” after weeks of pressure to endorse or reject a push by liberals to expand the court.
Biden comments to “60 Minutes” were his fullest response on the subject.
He reiterated that he does not love the idea of simply adding justices and filling those slots with liberals, should he be elected and Democrats retake the Senate.
“The last thing we need to do is turn the Supreme Court into just a political football, whoever has the most votes gets whatever they want,” Biden said in excerpts of the “60 Minutes” interview. “Presidents come and go. Supreme Court justices stay for generations.”
Rather, he suggested, he wants broader changes that would incorporate the views of conservative political leaders and legal scholars. Such experts have proposed everything from term limits for justices to rotating them on and off the court to imposing a rough ideological balance to guaranteeing each president at least two nominations.
“It’s not about court-packing,” Biden said. “There’s a number of other things that our constitutional scholars have debated, and I’ve looked to see what recommendations that commission might make.”
Some liberal groups want a Democratic Congress to add as many as four seats to the court and have Biden fill them all, creating an instant liberal majority.
Instead, Biden said the commission would have 180 days to come up with proposals, potentially giving his administration a window to determine whether a new era of bipartisanship is possible.
‘NOTICING STAGE’
The liberal group Demand Justice called his proposal a “punt.”
“We certainly do not need a commission to tell us that Republicans are on the verge of stealing their second Supreme Court seat in four years and that the [ Chief Justice John] Roberts Court routinely sides with voter suppression schemes that advantage the Republican Party,” said Brian Fallon, the group’s executive director. “This proposed commission runs the risk of stalling momentum for serious reform.”
Some Democrats fear that the party may capture the White House and both chambers of Congress, only to see the courts throw out or restrict any liberal legislation and impose limits on voting that will help Republicans.
“We went for a long time without even noticing what was going on at the court,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., a Senate Judiciary member. “We’re now, I think, at the noticing stage.” Whitehouse wants hearings on potential Supreme Court overhauls.
“There is broad recognition that Democrats have very little choice but to expand the court,” said Shaunna Thomas, co-founder of Ultraviolet, a women’s rights organization who sees a conservative court as a barrier to liberal priorities. “I think people are very front-foot-forward on court-packing.”
But during the primary campaign, Biden was definitive in his rejection of those types of ideas. “I’m not prepared to go on and try to pack the court, because we’ll live to rue that day,” he told Iowa Starting Line in July 2019.
“I think it’s a bad idea,” he said in August 2019 during a trip to Iowa.