Senate GOP plans quick confirmation for Trump’s pick
Graham, Harris share spotlight as Barrett hearings get underway
WASHINGTON— Senate Republicans are vowing a quick confirmation for U.S. President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, as the party — undeterred by coronavirus infections or other distractions — rushes to put conservative Judge Amy Coney Barrett on the high court before the Nov. 3 election.
The process starts Monday with hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The hearings are likely to be a hybrid of in-person questioning and some participation via video after three GOP senators — including two on the committee — contracted the virus.
The GOP-led panel has held more than 20 hearings during the pandemic as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell continues his drive to confirm conservative judges. The hearings have all had a combination of in-person and remote questioning.
Some outside groups have pushed for Democratic senators to boycott the Barrett hearings to protest the accelerated confirmation process and remind voters of Republicans’ refusal to consider former resident Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee in 2016, but those pleas were ignored. Still, some Democrats have refused to meet with Barrett and the hearings are likely to be contentious, although not as explosive as hearings two years ago to consider Brett Kavanaugh, who was confirmed.
Unable to block Trump’s pick on their own, Democrats argue that Barrett’s confirmation would threaten protections of the Affordable Care Act — a focus that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has embraced and many Democrats see as a winning message. The court will hear a case challenging the constitutionality of
Obama’s health care law just after the election, adding to the urgency of the issue.
Conservative groups have been pushing hard for Barrett’s confirmation and are expected to spend more than $10 million to drum up support for her.
At the helm of a process that will include days of televised hearings, Senate Judiciary chair Lindsey Graham will be in the national spotlight, a position he has said may benefit his own political standing.
Graham said Barrett “is going to be confirmed because the president has the constitutional authority to do it.” He called Barrett a “buffer to liberalism” and said he hoped she “won’t be treated like Kavanaugh.”
Sen. Kamala Harris, Biden’s running mate in the election, will again be in the spotlight as Democrats question a Trump nominee for the Supreme Court. Harris, a former prosecutor and state attorney general, earned high marks from Democrats for her aggressive questioning of Kavanaugh in 2018. Those hearings, at which Harris played a key role, drew more than 20 million viewers.
Successful questioning of Barrett could boost the Biden-Harris ticket, but missteps could risk harming Democrats’ chances of winning an election they now lead in national polls. “I think there’s probably more pressure on Kamala to actually engage ... in a political way than ever before just because of the fact that she’s on the ticket” with Biden, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said.