Court pick Barrett visits Senate ahead of confirmation fight
President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, as the conservative judge met privately on Capitol Hill Tuesday with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and others in preparation for her fast-track confirmation before the Nov. 3 election.
Joined by Vice President Mike Pence, McConnell said he was glad to welcome Barrett and “get the process started” on her confirmation. Pence said the judge “represents the best of America.”
The Republican leader declined to answer questions about whether Barrett should recuse herself if legal challenges in the election between Trump and Democrat Joe Biden land at the high court. But another key GOP senator said that’s “the entire reason” why the Senate should quickly fill the vacant seat.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas warned of a “crisis” if the eightjustice court is deadlocked on election matters. “The entire reason the Senate should act and act promptly to confirm a ninth justice is so that the Supreme Court can resolve any cases that arise in the wake of the election,” Cruz told reporters at his meeting with the judge.
Democrats are confronting the limits of their power as they fight against the nomination and some have said they won’t meet with Barrett, who is expected to be confirmed for the seat held by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg by the end of October.
With Republicans holding a 53-47 Senate majority, and just two GOP senators opposing a quick vote, Barrett appears to have enough support for confirmation.
“She’s got a good chance of getting my vote,“said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the former Judiciary Committee chairman who now helms the Finance Committee.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer acknowledged Tuesday it will be an “uphill fight” to stop Trump’s nominee. But he said Americans are on Democrats’ side in preferring to
wait until after the election so the winner can choose the next justice. He is among those refusing to meet with Barrett, calling the process “illegitimate,” and said her conservative views on health care, abortion and other issues are “far outside” the mainstream.
“It’s not over,” Schumer said on ABC’s “The View.”
Barrett made no public remarks at the start of what is expected to be days of meetand-greet sessions with senators, a traditional part of the confirmation process. She also was to meet Tuesday with Sen.
Lindsey Graham, R-S.C, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and other senators on the panel. Hearings at the committee are set to begin Oct. 12.
No justice has ever been confirmed to the Supreme Court so close to a presidential election. According to a national poll by The New York Times and Siena College that was released Sunday, a clear majority — 56 percent — of voters believes the winner of the Nov. 3 presidential election should fill Ginsburg’s seat, versus 41 percent who said Trump should as the current president.