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Two Democrats (and presumably counting) on the Senate Judiciary Committee have vowed to violate established norms and not meet with Supreme Court Justice nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett for reasons that appear to be rooted entirely in politics.
One of those Democrats is Sen. Mazie Hirono.
Speaking on CNN about an hour after President Donald Trump formally nominated Barrett to the court Saturday afternoon, Hirono began by reiterating some of the concerns she’d shared a few days earlier about the Affordable Care Act being gutted.
“The American people need to know what’s at stake in this nomination, and what’s at stake is their very healthcare. … [W]ith Amy Barrett voting down the Affordable Care Act protections, they’ll be sitting at their kitchen tables, wondering how the heck they’re going to pay their medical bills. That’s what’s happening,” she said.
“And I’m going to use every moment to get that across, and, of course, I will question Judge Barrett under oath as to her other views because she has very closely held views that will impact a woman’s right to choose, and certainly she’s already expressed her basically willingness to vote down the Affordable Care Act.”
This prompted CNN host Wolf Blitzer to ask, “Will you or won’t you be willing at least to meet with her, give her the courtesy of meeting with her before the hearings, get to know her a little bit?”
Keep in mind this courtesy was certainly granted to then-Supreme Court nominee Judge Merrick Garland by Hirono’s Republican colleagues back in 2016.
“I will not be meeting with her. I will take the opportunity to question her when she is under oath,” the senator nevertheless replied.
Listen:
(Source: CNN)
Blitzer responded by asking Hirono whether she believes Barrett is qualified to serve on the high court. The senator replied by just skipping the question altogether and returning to her partisan talking points.
“The issue is whether or not her closely held views on issues such as the Affordable Care Act, such as abortion rights can be separated from her ability to be a fair and objective justice,” she said.
The other senator who’s vowed to treat Barrett like a pariah versus a duly nominated Supreme Court nominee is Sen. Richard Blumenthal.
In tweets posted promptly after Barrett’s nomination Saturday, he bluntly said he won’t treat her otherwise constitutionally sound nomination “as legitimate” and also repeated some of the same talking points as Hirono.
Look:
I will oppose the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett, as I would any nominee proposed as part of this illegitimate sham process, barely one month before an election as Americans are already casting their votes. Americans deserve a voice in this hugely consequential decision.
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) September 26, 2020
Judge Barrett’s views would harm real lives—real people—in real ways, from children with pre-existing conditions to women who just want to be able to decide when & how to have a family. I’m fighting for them.
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) September 26, 2020
Judge Barrett, like any Trump nominee, has already been vetted & screened to meet two tests: a commitment to striking down the Affordable Care Act & to overturning Roe v. Wade.
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) September 26, 2020
Judge Barrett has criticized past decisions protecting access to health care, shown hostility to reproductive freedoms, & expressed a willingness to overturn settled Supreme Court precedent that does not align with her extreme views.
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) September 26, 2020
If Judge Barrett’s views become law, hundreds of millions of Americans living w/pre-existing conditions would lose access to their health care. In the middle of a pandemic, rushing confirmation of an extreme jurist who will decimate health care is unconscionable.
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) September 26, 2020
I will refuse to treat this process as legitimate & will not meet with Judge Amy Coney Barrett.
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) September 26, 2020
There is no rule barring a president from nominating a SCOTUS judge one month before an election, which therefore leaves only one “legitimate” reason for Blumenthal’s refusal to meet with Barrett — his ideological differences with her.
Politics, in other words. And this despite a bipartisan vote three years ago to confirm Barrett to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
That both senators oppose Barrett’s nomination is no surprise — she leans to the right politically, while they lean to the far, far, far left.
The concern rather is over their politically motivated unwillingness to simply meet with her. That’s not normal now, nor was it in 2016.
While Senate Republicans ultimately refused to move forward with Garland’s nomination at the time, they did at least meet with him.
I just met with Judge Garland. pic.twitter.com/gScIsrp8CB
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) April 20, 2016
To be fair, it’s not clear whether EVERY Republican member of the then-Senate Judiciary Committee met with Garland at the time.
What’s known is there appears to be no record of them refusing to meet with Garland strictly for political reasons …
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V. Saxena is a staff writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.
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