Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday morning to approve Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination, sending it to the full Senate for a final vote on Monday.
Democrats tried to obstruct the vote by boycotting the session, but Republicans pushed through to the next phase without them.
“Barrett deserves to be on the Supreme Court and she will be confirmed,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the committee chairman. He said Democrats “made a choice not to participate.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said this week, “I think that will be another signature accomplishment in our effort to put on the courts, the federal courts, men and women that believe in the quaint notion that maybe the job of a judge is to actually follow the law.”
Despite Democratic complaints that the process is occurring too close to the November election, Republicans have pressed to move forward with the proceedings.
According to a new Gallup poll, 51 percent of people support Barrett’s confirmation before the election, while 46 percent oppose the idea and 3 percent were undecided.
“Judge Amy Coney Barrett demonstrated that she has the deep legal expertise, dispassionate judicial temperament, and sheer intellectual horsepower that the American people deserve to have on their Supreme Court,” McConnell said. “I look forward to the Judiciary Committee’s vote on Thursday. The full Senate will turn to Judge Barrett’s nomination as soon as it comes out of committee. I’ll be proud to vote to confirm this exceptional jurist.”
In opposition to Barrett’s confirmation, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) attempted to shut down the Senate until after Nov. 3 but Republicans blocked his effort.
“This is the most rushed…most partisan, least legitimate Supreme Court nomination process in our nation’s history – in our nation’s entire history – and it should not proceed,” Schumer said. “Therefore, I will move to adjourn the Senate until after Nov. 3 election, with the ability to come back into session if there is a bipartisan agreement on a COVID relief package.”
Additionally, Barrett’s confirmation has raised the issue of “court-packing”. Some Democrats have called for Biden to add extra progressive justices to the Supreme Court to negate Barrett’s future influence if Biden wins the election and Democrats also take the Senate.
A New York Times poll found strong resistance to that idea with 58 percent against it and only 31 percent supporting it. Resistance was even stronger among independents as 65 percent oppose expanding the court.