Amy Coney Barrett grilled on Day 2 of Senate confirmation hearings

Here are highlights of her more than 11 hours of questioning Tuesday.

ByLibby Cathey
Last Updated: October 14, 2020, 6:23 AM EDT

The high-stakes confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett continued Tuesday with the Supreme Court nominee facing questions for more than 11 hours.

Senate Republicans are keeping up their push for a final vote before Election Day despite Democratic calls to let voters decide who should pick a new justice.

Trump nominated Barrett to fill the seat left by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The four days of Senate Judiciary Committee hearings are unprecedented, with some members participating virtually and in-person. Barrett is appearing at the witness table to face questions.

Hearings begin at 9 a.m. each day and will be live streamed on ABC News Live.

In opening statements Monday, Democrats argued the nomination puts the health care of millions of Americans at risk amid an ongoing pandemic and some called on Barrett to recuse herself from any presidential election-related cases. Republicans, who say they already have the votes to confirm Trump's pick, defended Barrett's Roman Catholic faith from attacks which have yet to surface from inside the hearing room.

Barrett, 48, was a law clerk to conservative Justice Antonin Scalia and follows his originalist interpretation of the Constitution. She practiced law at a Washington firm for two years before returning to her alma mater, Notre Dame Law School, to teach. She was nominated by Trump in 2017 to the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and confirmed by the Senate in a 55-43 vote.

Headlines:

Here's how the news developed. All times Eastern.
Oct 13, 2020, 7:56 AM EDT

Key takeaways from 1st day of Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Court nomination hearing

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday spent roughly five hours hearing opening statements from lawmakers and Judge Amy Coney Barrett, as they began considering her nomination to the Supreme Court.

While the outcome of the process is not in doubt -- Republicans have the votes and the political will to report her nomination to the full Senate chamber and tee up a final vote before Election Day -- senators previewed their strategies for handling the controversial confirmation process unfolding as Americans are already voting in states across the country.

Here are five takeaways from day one

Oct 13, 2020, 7:35 AM EDT

Barrett’s friend and colleague: Be careful about 'too many assumptions'

Nicole Garnett, a friend and colleague of Judge Barrett who has known her since they both served as law clerks for Supreme Court justices, said Barrett has the qualifications and characteristics that will make her an "amazing justice."

"She's got a great legal mind, she's a person of great character, a person of humility, she's kind to everyone, she's compassionate, she impresses everybody, she works harder than everybody else," Garnett said during an interview on ABC News Live.

Garnett, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, had just started a clerkship with Justice Clarence Thomas in 1998 when she met Barrett, who was clerking for Justice Antonin Scalia.

Barrett has said her philosophy is that of Scalia's, which is to apply the law as written as she sees it -- but Garnett warned that the public "should really be careful before we make too many assumptions about people based on the party of the president who nominated them."

Professor Nicole Garnett, friend and colleague of Judge Amy Coney Barrett, talks about Barrett’s personal qualities, judicial philosophy and why she might surprise us.
5:56

Barrett’s friend and colleague: 'Be careful about too many assumptions'

Professor Nicole Garnett, friend and colleague of Judge Amy Coney Barrett, talks about Barrett’s personal qualities, judicial philosophy and why she might surprise us.
ABCNews.com

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