Tense high court hearings kick off
Citing risk, Harris attends Barrett proceedings remotely
“This committee has ignored commonsense requests to keep people safe.” Sen. Kamala Harris, DCalif.
WASHINGTON — As the Senate opened confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett, there was just as much focus on who was in the room — and who was not — as there was to what was being said.
California’s two senators both serve on the Judiciary Committee, but only one was present at Monday’s hearing. Sen. Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, opted to participate virtually from her office, saying the hearing room in the Hart Senate Office Building was not safe because two Republicans on the committee tested positive 10 days earlier.
One of the two, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, was in the hearing room, after saying his doctor had cleared him to return to Capitol Hill.
Harris’ spokesman said she decided not to participate in person because of “committee Republicans’ refusal to take commonsense steps to protect members, aides, Capitol complex workers and members of the media.”
The California Democrat noted her concerns in her opening statement, saying, “This hearing has brought together more than 50 people to sit inside of a closeddoor room for hours while our nation is facing a deadly airborne virus. This committee has ignored commonsense requests to keep people safe, including not requiring testing for all members, despite a coronavirus outbreak among senators on this very committee.”
Harris joined fellow committee Democratic Sens. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Cory Booker of New Jersey in sending a letter last week to panel Chairman Lindsey Graham, RS. C., asking him to require testing for senators before the hearing and to impose quarantines on anyone exposed to people with the virus. Graham refused and has declined to take tests himself in recent days, saying it wasn’t necessary.
“As to the hearing room, I doubt if there’s any room in the country that has been given more attention and detail to make sure it’s CDCcompliant,” Graham said Monday. “The architect of the Capitol, working with the attending physician, has set up the room in a fashion so we can safely do our business.”
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, was present in the hearing room, in which senators sat several feet from each other and many wore masks except when speaking. Her spokesman said that “as ranking member of the committee, Sen. Feinstein believes it’s important to be there in person, but she also recognizes there are other considerations that other members need to make.”
Feinstein did not mention the presence of Lee or senators who had been exposed to him during her opening remarks. But she did note the death toll from the pandemic and focused on what Democrats believe is the likelihood that Barrett would provide a vote on the court to overturn the Affordable Care Act, something they hope to use against Republicans politically given that they have almost no hope of blocking her confirmation.
The court will hear a case on the law’s constitutionality Nov. 10, and Republicans are eager to confirm her before then.
“Health care coverage for millions of Americans is at stake with this nomination,” Feinstein said. “Over the course of these hearings, my colleagues and I will focus on that subject. We will examine the consequences if, and that’s a big if, the Republicans succeed in rushing this nomination through the Senate before the next president takes office.”
Both Feinstein and Harris told the stories of constituents from California who rely on the Affordable Care Act for access to their care.
“They are trying to get a justice onto the court in time to ensure they can strip away the protections of the Affordable Care Act. And if they succeed, it will result in millions of people losing access to health care at the worst possible time, in the middle of a pandemic,” Harris said. “Republicans finally realized the ( act) is too popular to repeal in Congress, so now they are trying to bypass the will of voters and have the Supreme Court do their dirty work.”
Barrett wore a mask as she waited through all committee members’ opening remarks before her turn to speak came. She did not directly address any of the criticism from Democrats or praise from Republicans in her opening remarks. Rounds of questioning will begin Tuesday.
But Barrett said she keeps in mind the losing side in every case she decides as a member of the U. S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
“I ask myself how I would view the decision if one of my children was the party that I was ruling against,” Barrett said. “Even though I would not like the result, would I understand that the decision was fairly reasoned and grounded in the law?”
Leahy joined Harris in participating in the hearing remotely. All Republicans were present except North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, who, like Lee, has tested positive, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who is in quarantine because of his exposure to Lee. Both took part virtually.
“We should not be holding this hearing when it’s plainly unsafe to do so,” Leahy said, “and when other members have declined to get tested, and the chairman has refused to implement a daily testing regime to keep members and staff and Judge Barrett and her family safe.”
Leahy also denounced Republicans’ rush to confirm Barrett before election day to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Sept. 18.
“You might say we shouldn’t be spending time on this when we’re doing absolutely nothing to pass a muchneeded COVID bill,” Leahy said. “Every senator on this committee knows in their heart this total break with precedent, break with their commitments, is wrong.”
Lee and Tillis tested positive for the virus Oct. 3, after President Trump and a number of other people who attended the White House announcement of Barrett’s nomination Sept. 26 also tested positive. Both Lee and Tillis were present at a Judiciary Committee hearing Oct. 2.
Feinstein, at 87, would be at elevated risk for complications if she contracted the virus. She has tested negative in recent days, her office said. Harris is 55, but as the party’s nominee to be vice president spends considerable time with Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, who is 77.
Despite being at the Oct. 2 hearing, where senators spoke without masks, Graham has not quarantined or been tested recently for the virus.
His Democratic opponent in Graham’s reelection race demanded he be tested before their inperson debate Friday. Graham refused, saying his physician said it wasn’t necessary, so the candidates appeared separately.
Graham spent much of Monday’s hearing not wearing a mask, though briefly put it on to speak with Feinstein, who was also wearing a mask at the time.
Lee released a letter from his doctor before the hearing saying he met Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria to return to public after his mild case of coronavirus. As did all the speakers, he delivered his statement without wearing his mask.