Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin painted a grim picture for liberals hoping that Senate Democrats have a trick up their sleeve to stop the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett.
Durbin, a top Democrat in the upper chamber serving as minority whip, said on Sunday that his colleagues can only hope to “slow” Barrett’s confirmation to the Supreme Court because of the Republican majority in the Senate and a dearth of defectors.
“We can slow it down, perhaps a matter of hours. Maybe days at the most. But we can’t stop the outcome,” Durbin said on ABC’s This Week. “What we should do is to address this now respectfully.”
Republicans are urging Democrats to not attack Barrett’s Catholic beliefs during the confirmation process and avoid the sort of confrontations that took place in 2017 when Barrett went through the Senate for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, where she now is a judge.
Still, Durbin is holding out hope, noting that at least two Republicans, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Maine Sen. Susan Collins, have said they do not support holding a vote before the election. No other Republican have signaled that they oppose moving forward with President Trump’s nominee so late into the election cycle, and it remains unclear whether Murkowski and Collins will actually vote against Barrett if the nomination is brought to the Senate floor.
“There have been two Republicans who have spoken out already, Senators Murkowski and Collins, that said they won’t support this procedure before the election. If two others decide during the course of the debate to stand up and take the same position, then we could have a different timing. Perhaps a different outcome,” Durbin said.
