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WASHINGTON >> Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett presented her conservative approach to the law Monday at the start of fast-tracked confirmation hearings, while Democrats, powerless to stop her, tried to cast her as a threat to Americans’ health care coverage during the coronavirus pandemic.
With her large family sitting behind her in a hearing room offlimits to the public and altered for COVID-19 risks, Barrett delivered views at odds with the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whose seat President Donald Trump nominated her to fill, likely before Election Day.
“Courts are not designed to solve every problem or right every wrong in our public life,” declared the 48-year- old federal appeals court judge, removing the protective mask she wore most of the day to read from a prepared statement.
Americans “deserve an independent Supreme Court that interprets our Constitution and laws as they are written,” Barrett told the Senate Judiciary Committee, laying out her judicial philosophy, which she has likened to that of her conservative mentor, the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
The Senate, led by Trump’s Republican allies, is pushing Barrett’s nomination to a quick vote
before Election Day, Nov. 3, and ahead of the latest challenge to the Affordable Care Act, which the Supreme Court is to hear a week after the election.
Republicans also hope to seat Barrett quickly enough to hear any legal challenges after the election. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut was among several Democrats demanding that Barrett pledge not to take part in any election case. She has made no such commitment.
Barrett will face questions on Tuesday after an opening day dedicated to opening statements.
Ginsburg’s legacy was felt throughout the hearing, w ith some Democrats wearing lapel pins with her likeness. Barrett also praised the liberal icon, saying she was “forever grateful” for Ginsburg’s trailblazing path as a woman on the court..
Yet Sen. Kamala Harris of California, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s running mate, warned that Barrett’s nomination puts in jeopardy everything Ginsburg fought to protect.
Testifying from her office because of the pandemic, Harris said that the court is “often the last refuge for equal justice” and that not only health care but voting rights, workers’ rights, abortion rights and the very idea of justice are at stake.
Barring a dramatic development, Republicans appear to have the votes to confirm Barrett to a lifetime seat on the Supreme Cour t, and they spent their time portraying her as a thoughtful judge with impeccable credentials. Her nomination offers the chance to entrench a conservative majority on the
court for years to come with Trump’s third justice.
“She is a slam dunk” based on her qualifications, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R- S.C., the committee chairman, told reporters late in the day. Barrett received the highest, “wellqualified” rating from the A merican Bar A ssociation, though she is the first nominee since Clarence Thomas who did not receive a unanimous assessment.