By: Kit Norton; VT Digger
Both of Vermont’s U.S. senators opposed the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court Monday.
Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., voted against confirming President Donald Trump’s choice to fill the court vacancy left by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The Senate confirmed Barrett’s nomination 52-48 Monday evening, with only Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins crossing party lines to vote against the nomination. Barrett took the constitutional oath at the White House Monday evening; she will take a judicial oath Tuesday at the Supreme Court.
Senate Republicans had the numbers needed to confirm Barrett, but that has not stopped Democrats from fighting tooth and nail to try to block her ascension to the Supreme Court before next week’s presidential election.
Republicans hold a 53-47 majority over Democrats — including two independents who caucus with them — in the 100-member upper chamber.
On Sunday, Democratic senators tried unsuccessfully to filibuster the nomination, arguing — as they have since Ginsburg died last month — that the process should wait until after the Nov. 3 election.
On the Senate floor Sunday, Leahy said that, unlike Ginsburg, Barrett will not stand up for the “rights of all those who have been marginalized.”
“I believe a Justice Barrett would set the clock back decades on all of the rights that Americans have fought so hard to achieve and protect,” Leahy said. “I have said that Justice Ginsburg would have dissented from this process. The least I can do is join her. I will vote no.”
On Monday morning, Sanders joined his colleague, saying Barrett’s inability to say that Medicare and Social Security are constitutional and that she would not weigh in on climate change made it impossible for him to support her nomination.
“Senate Republicans are carrying out an illegitimate power grab,” Sanders said via Twitter. “Today is a shameful day for our democracy. I will vote no on her confirmation.”
Senate Democrats have argued that Barrett would usher in a new age of conservative activism on the high court. Barrett is Trump’s third Supreme Court nominee; Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh were both previously confirmed. Barrett would give conservatives a 6-3 majority on the nation’s highest court.
Throughout the Senate Judiciary Committee’s confirmation hearing, Democrats made it clear they oppose Barrett’s appointment because of her legal opinions on social issues, including the Affordable Care Act, same-sex marriage and abortion rights.
Democrats have sharply rebuked committee Chair Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and other Republicans for reversing their 2016 stance that, in a presidential election year, the Senate should wait until people have voted before adding a new justice to the Supreme Court.
Four years ago, Senate Republicans refused to consider then-President Barack Obama’s last pick for the Supreme Court, Merrick Garland, even though the election was 269 days away. For Barrett, the interval was only 46 days, with her nomination completed just a week before voters elect a president for the next four years.
During the hearings, Leahy and other Democrats pressed Barrett on whether she would recuse herself from any election decisions the court might have to make after the Nov. 3 election.
Senate Democrats were also deeply concerned that she would vote to strike down the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The Supreme Court is expected to hear a Republican challenge to the health insurance statute next month.
On Thursday, Oct. 22, all 10 Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, including Leahy, refused to vote on Barrett’s candidacy, as a protest against the process. In each of the 10 vacant seats was a photograph of a person whose health care coverage could disappear if the Supreme Court rules that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional.
If Obamacare is struck down, 20 million Americans could lose their health insurance, experts say. In addition, Obamacare requires coverage of people with pre-existing conditions, which a government analysis in 2017 said affects about 130 million people, roughly half the population under age 65.
