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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.
“I think it’s going to be really thrilling,” Trump said during a post-announcement interview with Fox News Channel that aired Sunday. “I hope it goes smoothly. Perhaps it will, perhaps it won’t,” Trump said.
Speaking at a news conference at the White House, the president spotlighted Barrett’s Roman Catholic religion, portraying her as a victim of attacks on her faith.
“It’s a disgrace,” Trump said. He vowed she will be confirmed “very quickly.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-calif., created controversy during Barrett’s 2017 7th Circuit confirmation hearing by saying of Barrett’s Catholic faith, “The dogma lives loudly within you.” But since Barrett’s Saturday nomination for the Supreme Court, Senate Democrats have focused on Barrett’s judicial record, not her faith.
Trump’s Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, implored the Senate to hold off on voting on her nomination until after the Nov. 3 election to “let the people decide.”
Biden appealed directly to his former colleagues in the Republican-held Senate to “take a step back from the brink.”
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.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi 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 Care Act on Nov. 10.
“It’s not about this justice. 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 has said the Senate will vote on Barrett’s nomination in the “weeks ahead.” Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham said confirmation hearings will begin Oct. 12. A vote is expected Oct. 29.
“The Senate will confirm her next month,” declared Sen. Tom Cotton, 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.
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. The GOP will continue to control the Senate in the lameduck period between the election and inauguration.
“This needs to take all the time it needs to take, but it doesn’t need to take more time than it needs to take,” said Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, a member of the GOP Senate leadership, said on NBC’S “Meet the Press.”
“But I think we’re likely to get this done sometime in the month of October.”
In a memo to colleagues, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said to brace for the fight ahead.
“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 Care Act is at the top of the list.”