Less than a month after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, her potential replacement, Judge Amy Coney Barrett is set for a vote to become a Supreme Court justice.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) announced the date of Barrett’s confirmation vote — October 22 at 1 p.m. — after four days of confirmation hearings before the Judiciary Committee.
The Senate Judiciary panel formally scheduled an Oct. 22 vote to approve Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court this morning. McConnell said he’s going to bring her to the floor the next day, likely ending in a vote just a few days before the election. https://t.co/8f1wTcyzw0 pic.twitter.com/1U4ZLIL5Sg
— POLITICO (@politico) October 15, 2020
Democrats were frustrated with the process and throughout Thursday’s hearing (in which Barrett was not present) they continuously called foul on the Republicans and accused them of ignoring precedent in the hurry to push through Barrett.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) told Republicans on Thursday, “Don’t think that when you have established the rule of ‘because we can’ that should the shoe be on the other foot, you will have any credibility to come to us and say ‘yeah, I know you can do that, but you shouldn’t because of XYZ.'”
Whitehouse added, “Your credibility to make that argument at any time in the future will die in this room and on that Senate floor if you continue to proceed in this way.”
Whitehouse to his Republican colleagues: "Don't think that when you have established the rule of 'because we can,' that should the shoe be on the other foot, you will have any credibility." pic.twitter.com/Ng2NRcSHAR
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 15, 2020
After the death of Ginsburg, President Donald Trump quickly nominated Barrett. He has said he expects the results of the 2020 election to end up before the Supreme Court. Trump previously told reporters, “I think this will end up in the Supreme Court and I think it’s very important that we have nine justices.”
Though Democrats loudly voiced their anger at the rush to push Barrett through the confirmation process and get her seated on the court before the election, they are powerless. Republicans hold the majority in the Senate and before Barrett was even nominated, Graham boasted that Republicans had the votes to confirm Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.
