TheNewYork Times detailsTrump’s taxes
As president touts Barrett, Dem rival calls for restraint
He paid $750 in federal income taxes in 2016, 2017 and nothing in 10 of the last 15 years.
WASHINGTON— President Donald Trump said Sunday that confirmation of his Supreme Court nomineeAmy Coney Barrett will go “quickly” but his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, implored the Republican-led Senate to hold off on voting on her nomination until after the Nov. 3 election to “let the people decide.”
Speaking at a news conference at the WhiteHouse, the president spotlighted Barrett’s Roman Catholic religion, portraying her as a victim of attacks on her faith. But it’s her conservative approach to the law — particularly health care — that is drawing opposition from Democrats.
“It’s a disgrace,” Trump said. He vowed she will be confirmed “very quickly.”
Trump’s announcement of Barrett for the seat held by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is launching a high-stakes, fast-track election season fight over confirmation of a conservative judge who is expected to shift the court rightward as it reviews health care, abortion access and other hot-button issues.
Biden on Sunday appealed directly to his former colleagues in the Senate to “take a step back from the brink.”
Biden urged Senate Republicans not to fan a controversy during an already tumultuous election year
for a country reeling from the coronavirus crisis, a struggling economy and protests over racial injustice.
If Trump wins the election, his nominee should have a vote, Biden said, but if he wins the presidency, he should choose the next justice.
“This is time to de-escalate,” Biden said in Wilmington, Delaware.
No justice has ever been confirmed to the Supreme Court so close to a presidential election with early voting already underway in some states.
Republicans believe the fight ahead will boost voter
enthusiasm for Trump and Senate Republicans at serious risk of losing their majority.
Democrats warn Barrett’s confirmation would almost certainly undo Americans’ health care protections as the high court takes up a case against the Affordable Care Act in the fall.
According to a national poll by The New York Times and Siena College that was released Sunday, 56% of voters believes the winner of the Nov. 3 presidential election should fill Ginsburg’s seat, versus 41% who said Trump should as the current president.
Biden has said he would nominate the first Black woman to the court, but he has not released the names of his potential choices.
The poll, whichwas conducted Sept. 22-24, had a margin of sampling error of 3.5 percentage points.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California declined to say Sunday whether Barrett, a judge on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, is qualified to serve. But she argued that Trump was moving quickly to fill the vacancy before the court hears a challenge to the Affordable CareAct onNov. 10.
“It’s not about this jus
tice. It’s about any justice he would appoint right now,” Pelosi said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “What I am concerned about is anyone that President Trump would have appointed was there to undo the Affordable Care Act.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has said the Senate will vote on Barrett’s nomination in the “weeks ahead.” Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said confirmation hearings will begin Oct. 12. A vote is expected Oct. 29.
“The Senate will confirm her next month,” declared
Sen. TomCotton, R-Ark., on CNN.
With only two of the 53 Republican senators voicing opposition to a confirmation vote before the Nov. 3 election, Democrats appeared outnumbered— and without recourse to block the nomination.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the assistant leader, said Democrats can slow down the confirmation by a matter of hours or days, “butwe can’t stop the outcome.”
The president said he had considered Barrett for an opening in 2018 before he ultimately settled on Brett Kavanaugh, but he explained that she “seemed like a natural fit” after Ginsburg’s death.
“It was time for a woman,” Trump said of his third nominee to the nation’s highest court. If confirmed, Barrett’s addition would make for the sharpest ideological swing on the Supreme Court since Clarence Thomas replaced Justice Thurgood Marshall nearly three decades ago.
Other Republican senators say a post-election confirmation vote is also possible, as the GOP will continue to control the Senate in the lame-duck period between the election and inauguration.
In a memo to colleagues, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer warned of the GOP’s “monomaniacal drive” to confirm the nominee ahead of the election.
Schumer told Senate Democrats, “Our number one job is to communicate exactly what is at stake for the American people if Republicans jam through this nominee. The elimination of the Affordable CareAct is at the top of the list.”