LIVE: Amy Coney Barrett Confirmation Escalates Into Crossfire on Health Care | Happening Today

(Oct. 12) Democrats attacked the Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett as a move to kill the Affordable Care Act in the midst of a pandemic and sharply shift the court to the right at a Senate hearing that’s all but certain to lead to her confirmation just days before the election.

Beginning four days of statements and questioning, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee clashed over the propriety of President Donald Trump’s nomination of Barrett just 38 days before Election Day and the impact she would have on a court that would have a 6-3 conservative majority.

“President Trump and Senate Republicans see the potential to wildly swing the balance of the court,” Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont said. “They see the ability to take the courts from being independent to making them instead of an arm of the far-right and the Republican Party.”

Republicans called Barrett a worthy successor to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the liberal icon whose Sept. 18 death set off a historic pre-election battle over the future of the nation’s highest court. Republicans see a chance to cement a conservative majority for decades, even if the process carries political risks for the Nov. 3 election.

“There’s nothing unconstitutional about this process,” said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, the chairman of the committee. “This is a vacancy that has occurred through the tragic loss of a great woman and we’re going to fill that vacancy with another great woman.”

Graham heralded Barrett, a 48-year-old appellate court judge, as a “gifted” academic and protege of the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. Barrett, a mother of seven and devout Catholic, sat in the hearing room surrounded by family members Monday wearing a mask, as did lawmakers, staff and other attendees.

The hearings come under extraordinary circumstances, with the nation grappling with the coronavirus pandemic than has claimed the lives of nearly 215,000 Americans. Two Republican senators on the panel tested positive for the virus two weeks ago, sparking unusual safety precautions for the week of proceedings. Mike Lee, of Utah, spoke without wearing a mask and posted a letter from his doctor saying he had met criteria to end his isolation.

No president has ever made a Supreme Court nomination so close to an election, no matter which party controlled the Senate. The previous record was President Millard Fillmore’s failed 1852 nomination of Edward Bradford, which occurred 78 days before the election.

Democrats on the panel worked to keep the focus on the future of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, a leading issue in the presidential campaign. Each highlighted the personal stories of constituents who have drawn coverage by the ACA, or who have been affected by the spreading coronavirus.

Some also spoke directly to voters who might be watching at home.

“This isn’t Donald Trump’s country, it’s yours,” Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota said, looking straight into a TV camera. “This shouldn’t be Donald Trump’s judge. It should be yours.”

Senator Ted Cruz, Republican from Texas, said Democrats are seeking a commitment from Barrett that she would uphold the ACA, something she can’t offer as a judge.

“Making that promise would be violating the judicial oath,” he said.

The Trump administration’s latest effort to overturn the law is before the Supreme Court on Nov. 10, one week after the presidential election. “This well could mean that if Judge Barrett is confirmed, Americans could lose the benefits that the ACA provides,” said Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the committee’s top Democrat.

Feinstein pointed to critical comments Barrett made about Chief Justice John Roberts’s pivotal 2012 opinion upholding the core of the ACA, or Obamacare, which now provides health insurance for 20 million Americans and other benefits for millions more.

Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware said Barrett’s confirmation could endanger Supreme Court precedents that guarantee the right to use contraceptives, get an abortion and marry someone of the same sex.

The court “may overturn some of the very principles for which Justice Ginsburg fought her entire adult life, principles that protect settled, fundamental rights for all Americans,” Coons said.

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