Introduction
U.S President Trump on Saturday, announced Amy Coney Barrett, 48, as his selection to replace liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died on September 18 at the age of 87. This was announced at the White House Garden ceremony. Barrett is a devout Roman Catholic who earned her law degree and taught at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. She was appointed by Trump to the Chicago-based 7th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals in 2017.
Trump urged Republicans, who hold a 53-47 Senate majority, to confirm Barrett, a federal appeals court judge and a favorite of religious conservatives, by November 3 election. He said he expects the justices to have to resolve the election in which he faces Democratic challenger Joe Biden. The Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has made confirming Trump’s judicial appointments a paramount priority stated,
“I look forward to meeting with the nominee next week and will carefully study her record and credentials”.
Barrett is expected to begin meetings with individual senators on Tuesday. Trump said the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by his ally Senator Lindsey Graham, would begin confirmation hearings from October 12.
Criticism
However, Trump’s decision was opposed by his Democratic Challenger Biden and Biden’s vice presidential running mate Kamala Harris, a member of the Judiciary Committee, focusing on the threat they said she would pose to the healthcare of millions of Americans. Biden noted that even as Trump’s administration seeks to strike down Obamacare in a case the Supreme Court is due to hear on November 10, Barrett has a “written track record” criticizing a pivotal 2012 ruling authored by Chief Justice John Roberts preserving the healthcare law formally known as the Affordable Care Act. Barrett could be on the bench to hear that case if she’s quickly confirmed.
Democrats also brooded that Barrett could result in overturning the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide, a goal of religious conservatives.
Harris tweeted, “Trump’s hand-picked successor to Justice Ginsburg’s seat makes it clear that they intend to destroy the Affordable Care Act and to overturn the decision in Roe v. Wade. This selection would move the court further right for a generation and harm millions of Americans”