Senate panel sets Oct. 22 vote on Trump court pick despite Democrats’ protests

The Republican-led U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday scheduled an Oct. 22 vote to advance conservative appellate judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court to the full Senate, moving ahead with the confirmation process over Democratic objections.

The fourth and final day of the confirmation hearing for President Donald Trump’s nominee wrapped up in the early afternoon after committee Democrats protested what they called the needlessly rushed nature of proceedings and complaining that Barrett sidestepped questions about presidential powers, abortion, climate change, voting rights and Obamacare.

“I believe that this rushed, sham process is a disservice to our committee,” Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said. “She has been rushed in a way that is historically unprecedented … and the purpose of doing it is simply to have a justice on the Supreme Court, as the president said, to decide the election and to strike down the Affordable Care Act.”

The Republican president has asked the Senate to confirm Barrett before the Nov. 3 U.S. election in which he is seeking a second term in office. Trump has said he expects the court to decide the election’s outcome.

Republicans are aiming for a confirmation vote on the Senate floor by the end of October.

With Republicans holding a 53-47 Senate majority, her confirmation seems assured. Barrett’s confirmation would give the Supreme Court a 6-3 conservative majority. Barrett, 48, could serve for decades, alongside Trump’s two other Supreme Court selections, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch.

“There is no way you will ever convince me that Amy Coney Barrett is not qualified, using any reasonable standards of qualification,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, the committee chairman, said.

Barrett answered questions from senators during marathon sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday. The hearing concluded on Thursday with outside witnesses who testified in support and against Barrett’s nomination. Barrett was not present.

The committee heard from two representatives from the American Bar Association, a national nonpartisan lawyers’ group that deemed her “well qualified” after an evaluation of her “integrity, professional competence and judicial temperament.”

Democratic senators again raised a number of misgivings about Barrett’s potential votes on the Supreme Court on matters ranging from gun control to criminal justice matters, and expressed concern that she avoided answering many critical questions, including whether a president can delay an election and queries related to transitions of power.

“What was the purpose of this hearing if we’ve reached the point now where we really don’t know what she thinks about any issues?” Democratic Senator Dick Durbin asked.

“I would be afraid to ask her about the presence of gravity on Earth. She may decline to answer because it may come up in a case – you know, it could come before the court some day,” Durbin added.

Democrats were upset that Senate Republicans proceeded with the confirmation process for Trump’s nominee so close to an election after refusing to act on Democratic President Barack Obama’s 2016 Supreme Court nominee because it was an election year.

Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar said that Americans want the winner of the election to decide who fills the court’s vacancy created by the death of liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Klobuchar said the Senate should act on coronavirus pandemic relief instead of Barrett’s confirmation.

Despite some tense moments, the hearing was conducted largely with a congenial tone. It stood in contrast to the contentious Kavanaugh confirmation hearings in 2018 in which he angrily denied sexual assault allegations.

At the end, Graham told the Democratic senators, “You have challenged the judge, you have challenged us, and I accept those challenges as being sincere and not personal. I don’t think anybody crossed the line with the judge in terms of trying to demean her as a person.”

The committee’s top Democrat, Senator Dianne Feinstein, praised Graham for the manner in which he conducted the hearing.

If confirmed, Barrett could be on the Supreme Court in time to participate in a case on Nov. 10 in which Trump and Republican-led states are seeking to invalidate the 2010 Obamacare law, formally called the Affordable Care Act.