[NFA] President Donald Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court, Amy Coney Barrett, will face a grilling from Democrats this week during a multi-day Senate confirmation hearing as Republicans push ahead with their plan to quickly fill a vacancy on the bench before November's presidential election.
Lisa Bernhard produced this report.
President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, will face a grilling from Democrats this week during a multi-day Senate confirmation hearing as Republicans push ahead with their plan to quickly fill a vacancy on the bench before the November 3rd presidential election.
The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing kicks off Monday with opening statements from senators and Barrett herself.
She will then face questions on what are likely to be grueling all-day sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The hearing will conclude on Thursday when outside witnesses will testify.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, has said it will likely vote on her nomination on Oct.
22, setting up a final vote on the Senate floor by the end of the month, just days before the election.
With Republicans controlling the Senate, her confirmation is all but assured.
Democrats have charged Republican leadership with hypocrisy for pushing through Barrett’s confirmation so close to the election, arguing the contest’s winner should pick the nominee.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in 2016 blocked Democratic President Barack Obama's Supreme Court pick, saying then that a Senate vote should not be taken during an election year.
Barrett’s hearing comes with the country still deeply mired in the coronavirus pandemic, and with several members of the Trump administration having contracted COVID-19, including the president himself – as well as at least three Republican Senators, two of whom are on the Judiciary Committee.
Some officials tested positive after attending the September 26th White House event in which Trump announced Barrett as his Supreme Court pick.
She would be Trump’s third appointee to the high court, replacing the late liberal justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and cementing a 6-3 conservative majority.
If confirmed, Barrett could cast a deciding vote in a case before the Supreme Court in which Trump and fellow Republicans are asking the justices to strike down the Obamacare health law.
A favorite of Christian conservatives, Barrett is sure to be asked by Democrats this week about abortion, with conservative activists desperate for the court to overturn Roe v.
Wade.
Democrats are also likely to seek a pledge from Barrett that she would recuse herself if election-related issues reach the court next month.
