The U.S. senators representing Connecticut and New York announced their opposition to President Trump”™s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court, furiously questioning the legitimacy of the nomination and warning her confirmation could damage the nation”™s health care system.
Barrett was named by Trump to be a U.S. Circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 2017 and was confirmed by the Senate in a 55-43 vote, with three Democrats crossing the aisle in her support. On Saturday, the president announced his selection of Barrett to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court.
Connecticut’s Richard Blumenthal, who is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued a statement that the president”™s action was an “illegitimate sham process, barely one month before an election as Americans are already casting their votes.” He added he would not meet with Barrett ahead of her confirmation hearing and insisted that her selection was purely a partisan decision.
“Judge Barrett, like any Trump nominee, has already been vetted and screened to meet two tests: a commitment to striking down the Affordable Care Act and to overturning Roe v. Wade,” Blumenthal said. “Judge Barrett has criticized past decisions protecting access to health care, shown hostility to reproductive freedoms and expressed a willingness to overturn settled Supreme Court precedent that does not align with her extreme views.
“If Judge Barrett”™s views become law, hundreds of millions of Americans living with pre-existing conditions would lose access to their health care,” he added. “In the middle of a global pandemic that has claimed more than two hundred thousand American lives, rushing confirmation of an extreme jurist who will decimate health care is unconscionable.”
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy echoed his Connecticut colleague”™s concerns, insisting her placement on the court would spell the end of the current healthcare system.
“The Republicans have been on a decades-long crusade to dismantle the Affordable Care Act ”“ sending us back to the days when insurance companies could deny you coverage for having a pre-existing condition,” Murphy said.
“Now, a case is pending that will take away health care for millions, and Senate Republicans are predictably reneging on their pledge from four years ago of not appointing a Supreme Court justice during an election year, in order to rush Coney Barrett onto the court in time to end health care for millions.”
New York’s Chuck Schumer, the Senate Minority Leader, claimed that Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell were “shamelessly rushing to fill Justice Ginsburg”™s seat less than 40 days before a presidential election.” He also insisted that the action also betrayed Ginsburg”™s alleged dying wish “that she not be replaced until a new president is installed.”
Schumer claimed that Barrett”™s presence on the Supreme Court would spell the end of the nation”™s health care, social and environmental policies.
“Judge Barrett strongly criticized the ruling to uphold the Affordable Care Act, claiming that if Justices read the law the way she does, they would ”˜have had to invalidate”™ the entire health care law,” he continued. “Her record also makes clear that if she is confirmed, the reproductive freedoms that millions of women hold dear would be in grave danger.
“Should Judge Amy Coney Barrett be confirmed, a far-right majority on the court could also turn back the clock on women”™s rights and a woman”™s right to choose, workers”™ rights, voting rights, civil rights, LGBTQ rights, environmental protections and more. The future for DACA recipients also hangs in the balance with this nominee.”
New York’s Kirsten Gillibrand, who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Party’s nomination for president earlier this year, stated she would not meet with Barrett ahead of the confirmation hearing and echoed the sentiments of her local colleagues in the Senate by questioning the legitimacy of the Barrett nomination and her judicial views on the Affordable Care Act.
“President Trump”™s nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court represents the further degradation of our democracy and the continued politicization of our judiciary,” she said, adding she would “vehemently oppose Barrett”™s nomination and will vote against her confirmation.”
Did Mitch finish the hearings already?