Amy Coney Barrett begins Supreme Court confirmation hearing
Here are highlights of how both sides set the stage for questioning.
The high-stakes confirmation hearing for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, got underway Monday as Senate Republicans 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, overseen by chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham, are unprecedented, with some members participating virtually and in-person. Barrett will appear at the witness table to face questions each day.
Hearings start at 9 a.m. each day and will be live streamed on ABC News Live.
Barrett, 48, a devout Roman Catholic, was a law clerk to conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, considers him her mentor 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 to the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in May 2017 and confirmed by the Senate that October in a 55-43 vote.
Latest Headlines:
- Barrett makes opening statement focused on family, conservative judicial philosophy
- Harris claims Barrett will ‘undo the legacy’ of Ginsburg
- Booker says nomination is about overturning Roe v. Wade
- Blumenthal tells Barrett: 'You must recuse yourself' from any election-related cases
- Hawley claims Democrats show 'religious bigotry,' defends Barrett’s Catholic faith
Leahy hits on dangers of holding high-stakes hearing, says his constituents are ‘scared’ of Barrett's nomination
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., hit on the shame he said Republicans should feel as Barrett’s nomination ceremony took place just one week after the passing of Justice Ginsburg.
“We should not have had a nomination ceremony before Justice Ginsburg was even buried, while the nation was mourning her passing,” Leahy said. “We should not be here, holding that hearing just 16 days later when the committee has afforded itself three times as long to vet other nominees to the nation's highest court.”
Leahy also noted the number of Republicans he said have gone “back on their word” as they push the nomination through when millions of Americans have already voted just three weeks from a presidential election.
“Doing so requires literally half of the Senate, goes back on their word. Think of that for the Republican colleagues. Clearly half of the Senate had to break their word, contradicting every argument they've made for years, about the American people needing a voice during election year vacancies,” he continued.
Leahy, as did Feinstein, said in addition to the rushed nature of the nomination, his constituents are “scared” about the fate of the Affordable Care Act should Barrett be confirmed to the court.
“That is what weighs heavily on me as we begin these hearings and also weighs heavily on the minds of those I represent, and I have heard from them, as Justice Ginsburg's passing, they are scared, Judge Barrett,” Leahy said.
“They are scared that you will rip away the health care protections that millions of Americans ought to maintain and which Congress has repeatedly worked on eliminating. They're scared that the clock will be turned back to where women had no right to control their own bodies and when it was acceptable to discriminate against women in the workplace. They're scared that there is a time when we are facing the perilous impacts of climate change... And they're scared that your confirmation will result in the rolling back of voting rights, workers' rights, and the rights of the LGBTQ community to equal treatment," Leahy said.
Grassley sets up Barrett for Democrats’ attacks
Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, in his opening statement, quoted from Justice Ginsburg’s eulogy for Justice Scalia in a likely short-lived attempt to appeal to bipartisanship ahead of what will be a contentious week.
“The Senate is now tasked with carrying out perhaps its most solemn duty under the Constitution, as we go through this process, we should heed Justice Ginsburg's words with a shared reverence for the Court, and its part of our constitutional system,” he said.
Gearing up for Democratic attacks, Grassley then said he expects his colleagues will do “anything to derail the confirmation of a Republican nominee" and cautioned them not to allow this hearing to unfold as Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s did.
Expecting her Catholic faith to come up in the hearing, Grassley also reminded everyone of Barrett's rights.
“Let me remind everyone that Article One clearly prohibits religious tests for serving in public office,” Grassley continued. “I expect that you will follow the example of Justice Ginsburg, a nominee should offer no forecast, no hints of how he or she will vote, because that's the role of a judge,” he said, in an apparent reference to the so-called “Ginsburg Rule” con concerning what nominees can say at confirmation hearings.
Feinstein keeps focus on Affordable Care Act, consequences of 'rushing' nomination
Setting the tone for Democrats, Ranking Member Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., gave a nod to the legacy of the late Justice Ginsburg -- calling her a "standard-bearer for justice” -- before offering a preview of what her Democrats will focus on: Judge Barrett’s views on the Affordable Care Act and what she called the “consequences” of a rushed nomination.
“In filling Judge Ginsburg's seat, the stakes are extraordinarily high for the American people both in the short term and for decades to come. Most importantly, health care coverage, for millions of Americans, is at stake with this nomination,” Feinstein said. “So, over the course of these hearings, my colleagues and I will focus on that subject.”
“We will examine the consequences if, and that's a big " if," Republicans succeed in rushing this nomination through the Senate, before the next president takes office,” she continued, despite Republicans saying they're confident they can get a final vote before Election Day.
The Court is slated to hear oral arguments on the Affordable Care Act, which the Trump administration is seeking to overturn, one week after the election on Nov. 10., raising concern among Democrats on its fate amid a pandemic.
“We can't afford to go back to those days, when Americans could be denied coverage or charged exorbitant amounts. That's what's at stake for many of us, for America, with this nomination,” she said.
Feinstein also quoted Graham from when he previously said that a Supreme Court nominee shouldn't be confirmed when voting is underway.
Graham, in opening statement, appeals to bipartisan support but says GOP has the votes
Graham began his opening statement by reminding his colleagues of the bipartisan Senate support for both the Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice Antonin Scalia nominations.
“I don't know what happened between then and now. I guess we can all take some blame,” Graham said. “But I just want to remind everybody, there was a time, in this country, where someone like Ruth Bader Ginsburg was seen by almost everybody as qualified for the position of being on the Supreme Court.”
After he ticked through a list of Judge Barrett’s qualifications, he addressed the matter of the confirmation vote arising in an election year -- a point of contention with Democrats as Republicans prevented a hearing and vote on former President Barack Obama's nomination of Judge Merrick Garland in 2016.
“We're confirming the judge in an election year after the voting has occurred. What will happen is that my Democratic colleagues will say this has never been done and they're right in this regard, I don't think anybody has been confirmed in an election year past July,” Graham said, before getting to what he called his "bottom line."
“The bottom line here is that the Senate is doing its duty constitutionally,” he said. “As to Judge Garland, the opening that occurred with the passing of Justice Scalia, was in the early part of an election year. The primary process had just started.”
Graham also said the hearing will likely not change Barrett's path to the court, noting that Republicans have the votes.
“This is probably not about persuading each other, unless something really dramatic happens. All Republicans will vote yes, and all Democrats will vote no. And that will be the way the breakout of the vote, but the hearing is a chance for Democrats to dig deep into her philosophy, appropriately ask her about the law, somehow she would be different, what's on her mind,” he said.
Hawley claims Democrats show 'religious bigotry,' defends Barrett’s Catholic faith
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who made President Trump’s Supreme Court shortlist of potential nominees himself, used his opening statement to define “a pattern and practice of religious bigotry” he said Democratic members of the committee have shown against Barrett.
"This freedom of conscience and religious liberty underscores all of our other rights because it tells the government that it cannot tell us what to think or who we can assembly with or how we can worship or what we can say,” Hawley said. “This bedrock principle of American liberty is now under attack.”
Hawley deemed stories attacking Judge Barrett's faith "an attempt to bring back the veto power of the powerful over the religious beliefs and sincerely held convictions of the American people.”
He suggested a public official’s freedom of religion is at stake in the confirmation hearing.
“Judge Barrett is a Catholic. We all know that... Heck, 65 million Americans are Catholics and many, many millions more are Christians of other persuasions. Are they to be told that they cannot serve in public office? That they are not welcome in the public here unless the members of this committee sign off on their religious beliefs?” Hawley said. “I don't want to live in such an America.”
“I hope when we look back at the confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Barrett -- soon I hope to be Justice Amy Barrett -- one thing I hope we say is that was the year that the attempt to bring back religious test for office was finally stopped,” Hawley concluded.
He did not mention Trump has repeatedly attacked the faith of his political rivals.