Senate Confirms Amy Coney Barrett as Supreme Court Judge
Written by SOURCE on October 27, 2020
On Monday night, Senate Republicans confirmed Donald Trump‘s nominee Amy Coney Barrett as Supreme Court Judge with a vote of 52 for and 48 against. Maine Senator Susan Collins was the only member of the GOP to oppose Barrett’s nomination. Collins is up for re-election later this year, and currently embroiled in a tight race against Sara Gideon.
Conservatives now have a 6-3 majority on the high court.
Barrett is expected to take the first of two oaths at the White House, which will be administered by Justice Clarence Thomas. Donald Trump is also expected to swear-in Barrett, who will be the third Supreme Court justice he has nominated during his time in office, joining Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
The 48-year-old judge’s confirmation comes just a few days before the 2020 presidential election is set to take place. Barrett’s nomination on September 26 was met with opposition primarily from Democrats, who argued that Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell set a precedent when he blocked then-president Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland several months before the 2016 election.
Less than a month later, Barrett will officially take Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat following one of the quickest confirmation proceedings for a Supreme Court nominee in decades.
“After refusing a Democratic nominee to the Supreme Court because an election was eight months away, they will confirm a Republican nominee before an election that is eight days away,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Monday night ahead of the vote. “The Republican majority is lighting its credibility on fire. This hypocritical, 180 degree turn is spectacularly obvious to the American people.”
“At this moment, more than 62 million Americans have already voted, casting their ballot to determine who will be the next President of the United States. Confirming a Supreme Court nominee to a lifetime appointment at this point in the election process would do a great disservice to the millions of Americans who have already cast votes as well as to the millions more who will do so in the coming days,” the African American Policy Forum said in a statement. “Confirming Judge Barrett only eight days before the election would be undemocratic and unprecedented.”
Among the petitions that await the Supreme Court following Barrett’s confirmation includes granting a New York prosecutor access to eight years worth of Trump’s financial documents, such as his tax returns, and hearing a case regarding a 15-week abortion ban signed into law by former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant in 2018, which could have implications on Roe v. Wade.
