US Senate panel moves ahead with confirmation process of SC judge Barrett
The full Senate is scheduled to vote on Monday, confirming her as the ninth member of the bench to replace the late justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The Republican-led US Senate judiciary committee on Thursday advanced judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court for a floor vote, with Democrats boycotting a procedural vote.
The full Senate is scheduled to vote on Monday, confirming her as the ninth member of the bench to replace the late justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. “My Democratic Senate colleagues and I boycotted the Supreme Court nominee committee vote today,” Kamala Harris, a member of the committee and the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, said in a tweet.
“Let’s be clear: this nomination process is a sham and shows how Republicans will stop at nothing to strip health care from millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions,” she said after the 12-0 vote in the Senate panel.
Democrats couldn’t have stopped the nomination from advancing even if they had attended the meeting of the 22-member committee that has 12 Republicans. They stand disadvantaged to determine the floor vote either in the Republican-dominated chamber, even with a few defections.
Lacking in numbers, Democrats have sought to characterise Barrett’s nomination as an attempt by President Donald Trump and his congressional allies to change the ideological balance of the court with the aim of striking down health care and abortion and helping him stay in office if the outcome of the November 3 election is disputed.
