Senate GOP marches ahead on Barrett over Democrats' blockade
WASHINGTON — The Senate is poised for a rare weekend session as Republicans race to put Amy Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court and cement a conservative majority before Election Day despite Democratic efforts to stall President Donald Trump's nominee.
Democrats mounted time-consuming procedural hurdles Friday, but the party has no realistic chance of stopping Barrett's advance in the Republican-controlled chamber. Barrett, a federal appeals court judge, is expected to be confirmed Monday and quickly join the court.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York warned Republicans that they were making a “colossal and historic mistake.”
Republicans appeared unmoved. In a lengthy speech, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell praised Barrett as an “extraordinary” nominee and defended her quick confirmation. “We will give this nominee the vote she deserves no later than Monday,” he said.
Barrett, 48, presented herself in pub li ct esti - mony before the Senate Judiciary Committee as a neutral arbiter of cases on abortion, the Affordable Care Act and presidential power — issues soon confronting the court. At one point she suggested, “It's not the law of Amy.”
But Barrett's past writings against abortion and a ruling on the Obamaera health care law show a deeply conservative thinker.
Trump said this week he is hopeful the Supreme Court will undo the health law when the justices take up a challenge Nov. 10, the week after the election.
The fast-track confirmation process is like none other in U.S. history so close to a presidential election.
Schumer called it the “least legitimate process in the country' s history” as he forced procedural steps, including an unusual private Senate session, in hopes of changing Republicans' minds.
But Republicans quickly convened, t hen ended, the closed-door meeting, pushing forward. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, dismissed the stall tactics as “frivolous.”
At the start of Trump's presidency, McConnell engineered a Senate rules change to allow confirmation by a majority of the 100 senators, rather than the 60-vote threshold traditionally needed to advance high court nominees over objections. With a 53- 47 GOP majority, Barrett's confirmation is almost certain.
Most Republicans are supporting Barrett' s confirmation. Only Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine has said she won't vote for a nominee so close to the presidential election.
Another, Sen. Lisa Murk ow ski, R-Alaska, early on said she would prefer not to vote ahead of the election. But in a statement Thursday, Murkowski said now that the process is moving forward, the decision on whether to vote to confirm Barrett is one “each senator has to make on their own.”
Republican son the Judiciary Committee powered Barrett's nomination forward Thursday despite a boycott of the vote by Democrats.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, the committee chairman, acknowledged the partisan nature of the proceedings, but said he could not live with himself if the Senate failed to confirm someone he said was such an exceptional nominee. Graham, R-S. C ., called Barrett a “role model” for conservative women and for people strongly held religious beliefs.
Democrats decried the “sham” process and said Barrett would undo much of what was accomplished by Justice Ruth Bad er Ginsburg, the liberal icon who died last month.