Amy Coney Barrett grilled on Day 2 of Senate confirmation hearings
Here are highlights of her more than 11 hours of questioning Tuesday.
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:
- Barrett says 'I am not 'a liar,' would not violate judge's oath to be impartial
- Harris: "Suggest that we not pretend that we don't know how this nominee views a woman's right to choose'
- Barrett: Won't be used as a 'pawn to decide this election,' but declines to commit to recusal
- Barrett: Roe v. Wade not a universally-accepted 'super-precedent'
- Barrett on her family's reaction to George Floyd video: 'We wept together'
Barrett arrives on Capitol Hill
Barrett arrived on Capitol Hill about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday with her children and extended family following in a line behind her.
The first question and answer round in the confirmation hearings for Judge Barrett will kick off shortly in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Breakdown for Day 2
Senators will have the opportunity to grill Judge Barrett Tuesday on her judicial philosophy in what is expected to be a marathon question and answer session. Committee aides tell ABC News to expect the day to last between nine and 12 hours.
All 22 members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are allotted 30 minutes each to question the nominee in the first round, making the total run time 11 hours -- but Graham may decide to break up round one of questioning into Wednesday.
Graham will give an introduction and swear in Barrett around 9 a.m. to begin the hearing.
Democrats are expected to press Trump's nominee on the Affordable Care Act and the precedent of Roe. v. Wade.
-ABC News' Trish Turner and Allie Pecorin
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.
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."
Hirono presses Barrett on whether she would consider 'real-life' consequences of overturning ACA
Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, calling Republicans "hypocritical," said, "This hearing shows the American public exactly what my Republican colleagues' priorities are, ramming through another ideologically-driven justice to the Supreme Court instead of helping the people in our country suffering during this pandemic."
Hirono then asked if Barrett will consider the “real-world impact” of striking down the Affordable Care Act, noting that she and other Democrats have told stories of their constituents who rely on the law.
"Senator, to be clear, I have the utmost empathy, the stories, you know, that you have told, including the story of Veronica's family are very moving. If I were a justice, the commitment that I would make to you and all people affected by the laws is that I would follow the law as you enacted it," Barrett said. "I would do equal justice under the law for all and not try to thwart or disrupt in any way the policy choices that you and your colleagues have adopted."
Not satisfied with her answer, Hirono pressed Barrett, who reiterated her belief that Congress sets the policy and its up to the court to interpret whether those policies are constitutional, effectively refusing to reveal how she might decide on the highly-consequential case before the court on Nov. 10.
"No case comes before a court unless it involves real live people who've had a real-live dispute, and it is the job of a judge deciding every case to take into account the real-world consequences of the parties before it," Barrett said.
"So are you aligning yourself with Justice Ginsburg in terms of what you would consider real-life impacts and the effect it would have on your decision regarding the law?" Hirono asked.
"I don't know what context -- the particular context in which Justice Ginsburg was describing that. I think what I'm trying to align myself with is the law. And I will take into account all factors, including real-world impacts, when the law makes them relevant. As it clearly does, for example, in the doctrine of stare decisis," Barrett said.
Hirono also argued Barrett’s use of the term "sexual preference" instead of "sexual orientation" -- coupled with her view that constitutionality should overtake precedent -- worry a large part of the LGBT community. Hirono called the term "outdated" and one used to claim homosexuality is a "choice."
"I don't think that you use the term sexual preference as just -- I don't think it was an accident," Hirono said. The next senator to speak, Republican Joni Ernst of Iowa, gave Barrett the opportunity to respond, and Barrett clarified she did not mean to cause offense with her prior use of term. "I certainly didn't mean, and, you know, would never mean to use a term that would cause any offense in the LGBTQ community. If I did, I greatly apologize for that. I simply meant to be referring to Obergerfeld's holding with respect to same-sex marriage," she said.