What comes next with nomination
Senate vote on nominee will hit close to election
Senate Republicans have little time before the election but are confident they will vote to seat Amy Coney Barrett on the court before Nov. 3. Hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee start Oct. 12, which could lead to a full Senate vote by Oct. 26.
WASHINGTON – The Senate may vote to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court just days before Election Day, according to a key Republican senator, making for a potentially dramatic ending to the 2020 campaign.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. who leads the Senate Judiciary Committee – the panel tasked with vetting judicial nominees – said four days of confirmation hearings will begin Oct. 12 and that the committee should clear Barrett’s nomination by Oct. 26. That would leave the full Republican-led Senate with roughly a week to confirm Barrett in the final days of the presidential campaign.
The committee released its plan just hours after President Donald Trump nominated the appeals judge to the high court Saturday, underscoring Senate Republicans’ aim to quickly place another conservative justice on the bench before Nov. 3. Democrats have been trying to delay the vote in hopes Democrat Joe Biden defeats Trump or the Democrats retake control of the Senate. While they can use some arcane procedural methods to attempt slowing down the process, Democrats are unable to halt the process without Republican support.
The Oct. 12 hearing is one of four that week before the Judiciary Committee, where nominees are grilled on a range of sensitive issues that could be taken up by the high court.
This week, she is scheduled to meet one-on-one with members of the Senate. These meetings, typical in any Supreme Court vetting, will allow senators to both question Barrett on her opinion on issues and give them the chance to get to know the nominee.
“Hopefully we’ll come to the (Senate) floor around the 26th and that will be up to Mitch McConnell,” he said of the Senate majority leader, a Kentucky Republican.
Such a scenario would place the vote in the middle of the final week of the campaign, during which Biden and Trump will be trying to woo undecided voters and energize their bases in one last push for the White House.
The fast pace of Barrett’s nomination comes even amid mounting pressure from Democrats to press pause on filling the vacancy. Democrats have criticized the GOP for not only rushing the process, but doing so just days before the election. Republicans, in response, have pointed to past nominations that passed in shorter time frames.