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GOP’s Ben Sasse blasts Dems’ talk of court packing as ‘partisan suicide bombing’ during heated Amy Coney Barrett hearing
REPUBLICAN Ben Sasse blasted Democrats' court packing talk as a "partisan suicide bombing" during a heated Amy Coney Barrett hearing.
In the opening session of Monday's hearing, the Senator discussed "court packing" - an idea that many have supported.
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"We should underscore what is court packing," Sasse said. "Court packing is the idea that we should blow up our shared civics, that we should end the deliberative structure of the Senate by making it just another majoritarian body for the purposes of packing the Supreme Court.
"Court packing would depend on the destruction of the full debate hear in the Senate, and it is a partisan suicide bombing that would end the deliberative structure of the Senate and make this job less interesting for all 100 of us."
The comments came after revealed a plan to stall the confirmation of , following her "illegitimate, dangerous, and unpopular" nomination.
Schumer said that "Democrats will not supply the quorum," meaning they will not provide the minimum number of members for the full Senate to hold the vote on Barrett joining the Supreme Court.
Senator, and vice presidential hopeful, echoed Schumer's sentiments during Monday's hearing.
Harris, who appeared via videolink, called the confirmation process for Barrett "illegitimate" and "reckless."
She also went on to accuse of "jamming nominee through the Senate."
Democrats also tried to to the court to an upcoming case the justices will hear on the Affordable Care Act.
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If she is confirmed quickly, Trump's nomination could rule on the future of the law a week after the election.
“Health care coverage for millions of Americans is at stake with this nomination,” said Senator Dianne Feinstein of , the committee’s senior Democrat.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse said the nomination is a "judicial torpedo aimed" at the law's protection for people with pre-existing health conditions among its provisions.
The Trump administration wants the to strike down the entire law, while Barrett has criticized two earlier major rulings supporting Obamacare.
In response to Democratic attacks, Republicans presented the 48-year-old Barrett, who sat silent and wearing a face mask as a thoughtful judge with impeccable credentials.
Republican Senator Chuck Grassley dismissed warnings Barrett will undo the -era healthcare law as "outrageous."
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Who is Amy Coney Barrett?
Amy Coney Barrett, 48, was born in 1972 and raised in .
She is the eldest child of seven siblings. Her father worked as an attorney for Shell Oil Company.
She earned her undergraduate degree in English literature in 1994 at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn.
She then graduated from Notre Dame University Law School, and clerked for conservative icon Justice Antonin Scalia.
She taught at the University of Notre Dame in for 15 years, before being appointed to her current role as a circuit judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 2017.
Ms Barrett is married to former federal prosecutor who currently serves as a partner at law firm SouthBank Legal in South Bend, Indiana.
The couple live in South Bend with their ranging in age from eight to 19.
Two were adopted from Haiti and one child has Down Syndrome and special needs.
She is also reportedly a member of a small, tightly knit Christian group which was founded in 1971 in South Bend, Indiana.
Members support each other through weekly meetings, religious teaching, Scripture readings, and prayer.
Controversially, the group is said to teach that husbands are the heads of their wives and should take authority over the family.
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Republicans also warned against making Barrett's Catholicism an issue in the confirmation debate, especially in , with Senator Josh Hawley of attacking what he called a "pattern and practice of religious bigotry" by Democrats.
However, Democratic senators made clear in advance of the hearing that they didn’t plan to question the judge on the specifics of her religious faith.
Democratic presidential nominee , also a Catholic, told reporters ahead of a campaign trip to that he doesn’t think "there’s any question about her faith."
Democrats also attacked their opponents for rushing through the hearings during the panedmic.
Whitehouse said: "This hearing itself is a microcosm of Trump's dangerous ineptitude in dealing with the pandemic. Trump can't even keep safe … The whole thing, just like Trump, is an irresponsible botch."
Some senators were taking part remotely, and the hearing room was arranged with health concerns in mind.
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Republican Senator Lindsey Graham opened the hearing acknowledging "the Covid problem in is real."
But he said, "We do have a country that needs to move forward safely."
Graham acknowledged the obvious: "This is going to be a long, contentious week."
Barrett, a federal appeals court judge, told the hearing that she is "forever grateful" for late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s trailblazing path as a woman.
But she also wants to maintain the perspective of her own mentor, the late Justice Antonin Scalia and "apply the law as written."
"Courts are not designed to solve every problem or right every wrong in our public life," Barrett said.
Republicans are moving at a breakneck pace to seat Barrett before the to secure Trump's pick, which would put her on the bench for any election-related challenges.
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Democrats are trying to delay the fast-track confirmation by raising fresh concerns about the safety of meeting during the pandemic after two GOP senators on the panel tested positive for coronavirus.
Senator Mike Lee, one of those who tested positive, was in the hearing room Monday after his spokesman said he was symptom-free.
The other affected senator, Thom Tillis of , was participating remotely, though he too is symptom-free, his spokesman said. Both tested positive 10 days ago.
Among senators who will not set foot in the hearing room because of coronavirus concerns is vice presidential nominee .
"We are 22 days away from an election and people are voting right now. And that’s the focus given that they’re trying to push through, ram through a Supreme Court justice for a lifetime appointment while almost seven million people have already voted," Harris said as she arrived at her Senate office.
Trump chose Barrett after the , a liberal icon. It’s the opportunity to entrench a conservative majority on the court for years to come with his third justice.
Outside groups are pushing Democrats to make a strong case against what they call an illegitimate confirmation, when people are already voting in some states, saying the winner of the presidency should make the pick. No Supreme Court justice has ever been confirmed so close to a presidential contest.
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The country will get an extended look at Barrett over the next three days in hearings like none other during the heated election environment and the pandemic limiting public access.
Faith and family punctuate her testimony, and she said would bring "a few new perspectives" as the first mother of school-age children on the nine-member court.
Barrett says she uses her children as a test when deciding cases, asking herself how she would view the decision if one of her children were the party she was ruling against.
"Even though I would not like the result, would I understand that the decision was fairly reasoned and grounded in the law?" she says in the prepared remarks.
A Roman Catholic, she says she believes in the "power of prayer." Barrett's religious views and past leadership role in a Catholic faith community pose a challenge for Democrats as they try to probe her judicial approach to abortion, gay marriage and other social issues without veering into inappropriate questions of her faith.
Ordinarily, Barrett would get to . But the White House event announcing her nomination, in which most of the audience did not wear masks, for the coronavirus.
More than two dozen people linked to the , including the two GOP senators, have contracted Covid-19 since then. Barrett and her family went maskless at the event.
She and her husband, , tested positive for the virus earlier this year and recovered, two administration officials have said.
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Democrats already were enraged that Republicans are moving so quickly having refused to consider President Barack Obama nominee in February 2016, well before that year's election.
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