Finding nothing of fault with Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s judicial record, Senate Democrats have decided to fabricate positions that Barrett has never held in order to undermine her nomination to the Supreme Court.
Were Barrett confirmed to the bench, it could be the end of abortion rights, voting rights, women’s rights, and access to healthcare, according to Democrats. This last line of attack is a particular favorite among Senate Democrats, even though there is no evidence to support it. We’re only one hour into Barrett’s first confirmation hearing, and nearly every single Democrat who has spoken has accused her of seeking to repeal Obamacare and the coverage it provides for those with preexisting conditions.
But again, there is no evidence that the Supreme Court would overturn the Affordable Care Act, even if she were confirmed.
Democrats like to point to an upcoming case on Nov. 10, during which the justices will hear Texas’s lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare. The Trump administration is backing Texas’s case, and Senate Democrats have argued that Barrett’s nomination is a means to secure the ruling President Trump wants. But the lawsuit itself is weak, and it’s unclear that the bench’s conservative justices will find that Texas has standing to sue, let alone agree with the suit on the merits, even if they disagree with the contents of Obamacare.
That includes Barrett. She certainly has been critical of the Supreme Court’s past decision to uphold the ACA’s individual mandate as a tax, but not once has she expressed support for Texas’s lawsuit. Indeed, her jurisprudence suggests the exact opposite. Barrett, like the other conservatives on the bench, believes that the Supreme Court’s role is a necessarily narrow one, so it is extremely unlikely that she would suddenly abandon what she has practiced for so long and endorse a sweeping policy change on the basis of a weak case.
None of this context matters to Senate Democrats who are too busy fear-mongering to pay attention to the facts. But this accusation that Barrett would end the ACA, like the other attacks against her, is a long shot — and Democrats know it.
