Senate will hold confirmation vote on Amy Coney Barrett on Monday - setting her up to be on the Supreme Court before the election
The Senate is on track to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court by next Monday, ensuring she is on the high court by Election Day.
The rush to confirmation will involve a rare weekend session as Republicans push past procedural steps to install President Donald Trump's pick before November 3.
The moves comes after the Supreme Court handed Republicans a blow on Monday when - in a tie decision - it held up a lower court ruling that Pennsylvania officials can count mail-in ballots for three days after the election. The deadlock decision showed Republicans the urgency to get Barrett, a conservative justice, on the court.
If the November presidential election is contested, the Supreme Court could make the final decision on the outcome as it did in the 2000 case Bush vs. Gore that handed the presidency to George W. Bush.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he will begin the confirmation process as soon as the Senate Judiciary Committee wraps up its work Thursday. With a 53-47 Republican majority, and just two GOP senators opposed, Trump's nominee is on a glide path to confirmation that will seal a conservative hold on the court for years to come.
'We'll be voting to confirm justice-to-be Barrett next Monday,' he said during a press conference on Capitol Hill.
McConnell said Monday that Barrett demonstrated over several days of public hearings the 'sheer intellectual horsepower that the American people deserve to have on the Supreme Court.'
The Senate is on track to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court by next Monday, ensuring she is on the high court by Election Day
'We'll be voting to confirm justice-to-be Barrett next Monday,' Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said in a press conference on Capitol Hill
Without the votes to stop Barrett's ascent, Democrats have few options left. They are searching for two more GOP senators to break ranks and halt confirmation, but that seems unlikely. Never before as a court nominee been voted on so close to a presidential election.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer decried what he called the 'farcical' process to 'jam' through Trump's choice, even as the coronavirus outbreak sidelined GOP senators.
'The Republican majority is running the most hypocritical, most partisan and least legitimate process in the history of Supreme Court confirmations,' he said during speech as the Senate opened.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to meet Thursday to vote on recommending Barrett's nomination to the full Senate.
By Friday, procedural votes are expected, continuing over the weekend as Republicans push through the steps for a final vote to confirm Barrett as soon as Monday.
The 48-year-old appellate court judge from Indiana delivered few specific answers during several days of public testimony as senators probed her previously outspoken views against abortion, the Affordable Care Act and other issues before the court.
She declined to say whether she would recuse herself from cases involving the election between Trump and Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump has said he wants the judge seated in time to hear any potential disputes from the Nov. 3 election. He also has said he's looking for a judge who would rule against the Obama-era health care law, which is headed to the court in a case justices are expected to hear Nov. 10.
President Donald Trump has said he wants his nominee on the Supreme Court before the election; he's seen with Amy Coney Barrett at her nomination in the White House Rose Garden on September 26
If confirmed, Barrett would be Trump's third justice on the court. She would fill the vacancy from the late Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the liberal icon, locking in a 6-3 conservative majority on the high court.
Democrats objected to President Trump appointing a nominee before the results of November's election were known. But for all the fire they threw headed into Barrett's confirmation process, the Democratic senators kept their calm during the two days of questioning her during her hearings.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham expressed his relief at how well the hearings went after they concluded.
'I just want to say to my Democratic colleagues – I have lost sleep over this hearing,' he admitted. 'Thank you on behalf of the country for allowing us to get through this hearing in a fashion that I think it is be fitting to the Senate.'
Barrett's nomination has had a few bumps in the road.
Before President Trump named her to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the late Justice's family made it known RBG wanted her replacement named by the winner of the November election.
Then, the Rose Garden event where Trump formally nominated Barrett turned into a coronavirus super spreader where at least 12 people – including the president, first lady and senators on the Judiciary committee – tested positive for the virus after attending.