Judge Amy Coney Barrett breezed through a first day of meetings with Republican senators, winning both abundant praise and promises that she’ll be confirmed to the Supreme Court as soon as the end of next month.
“You just knock it out of the park as a law professor, as a lawyer, and I think you’re just an outstanding judge, ready for a good promotion,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said while meeting with Barrett in the Capitol.
No Democrat met with Barrett. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said he strongly opposes her nomination and believes the confirmation is taking place too close to an election. He also believes Barrett will vote to overturn Obamacare, the signature Democratic healthcare law.
“Why would I meet with a nominee of such an illegitimate process and one who is determined to get rid of the Affordable Care Act?” Schumer said Tuesday.
Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, both Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, said they would also skip meeting with Barrett.
Some Democrats on the Judiciary Committee plan to meet with Barrett, among them Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, who said he hoped to talk to her “soon.”
Democrats have little power to block her confirmation in the GOP-led Senate, and Republicans Tuesday barreled ahead, ushering Barrett through a busy meeting schedule in the Capitol.
Barrett, whom President Trump nominated Saturday to fill the vacancy left after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, met privately with eight Republican senators, starting with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, who had already praised her selection.
“I left our discussion even more convinced that President Trump has nominated exactly the kind of outstanding person whom the American people deserve to have on their highest court,” McConnell said.
Barrett arrived with Vice President Mike Pence and was accompanied for part of the day by White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
White House counsel Pat Cipollone was present with Barrett at every meeting.
Her final meeting of the day took place with Graham, who said he’ll begin Barrett’s confirmation hearing on Oct. 12 and will advance her nomination to the floor Oct. 22, which gives the Senate plenty of time for a final vote ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
The Senate confirmed the 48-year-old Barrett three years ago to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, and Barrett has long been a conservative favorite for the Supreme Court. She formerly clerked for the late Justice Antonin Scalia and said Saturday she embraces his judicial philosophy, which leaned conservative.
“I continue to be remarkably impressed by Judge Barrett,” Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, told reporters. “My meeting with her was fantastic. She’s a judge, a legal scholar, lawyer, with outstanding credentials. We had a great conversation.”
Republicans not only praised Barrett after meeting with her, they defended the decision to consider her nomination even though the election is only a few weeks away.
Democrats accuse the GOP of going back on a pledge to let voters decide if a vacancy occurs in an election year. That’s the policy McConnell cited when he declined to take up President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, in 2016.
But McConnell and Republicans said it’s a policy that does not apply when a president and Senate are in the same party and agree on the nominee.
Republicans who met with Barrett Tuesday cited her qualifications and readiness for the job.
“After meeting with Judge Barrett, I am confident that she has what it takes to be a phenomenal Supreme Court justice,” Majority Whip John Thune of South Dakota, said. “Judge Barrett and I discussed her extensive experience and principled judicial philosophy, and it is going to be extremely difficult for anyone to argue she isn’t qualified.”
Republicans rejected suggestions Barrett should recuse herself from a high-court case relating to the outcome of the Nov. 3 election.
“This election is a close, contested election, and if we see multiple cases challenging the election, if the court were to have only eight justices, it could divide 4-4, and under the Constitution, a 4-4 court can’t decide anything,” Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, said after meeting with Barrett. “We could face conflicting court of appeals judgments simultaneously with no Supreme Court able to resolve that. That would be an untenable situation, it would create a constitutional crisis, and part of the reason the Senate needs to act and act swiftly is so that we have nine justices that can resolve any issue.”
Democrats refusing to meet with Barrett bucks what had traditionally been a bipartisan confirmation process, but it’s not the first time. Republicans, including McConnell, declined to meet with Garland in 2016.
Schumer, in a Senate floor speech Tuesday, said Barrett would strip away women’s rights and would vote to overturn Obamacare if she’s seated on the Supreme Court.
“A vote by any senator for Judge Amy Coney Barrett is a vote to strike down the Affordable Care Act and eliminate protections for millions of Americans with preexisting conditions,” Schumer said Tuesday.
