Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously Thursday Morning to send Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination to the full senate. Democrats on the committee boycotted the vote, falsely claiming the process was illegitimate.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) noted the Democrats’ boycott at the beginning of Thursday’s hearing, saying “we are not going to allow them to take over the committee.”
He added: “They made a choice not to participate.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said the process was illegitimate since the election is so close and people have already started voting.
“We will not grant this process any further legitimacy by participating in a committee markup of this nomination just twelve days before the culmination of an election that is already underway,” Schumer said in a statement that included the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee.
Now that Barrett’s nomination has passed the committee, she will likely be confirmed by the full Senate ahead of the November 3 election. President Donald Trump nominated Barrett to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals three years ago and nominated her to the Supreme Court after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away last month.
Democrats demanded Trump wait until after the election to see if he won before nominating a replacement justice, a move they likely would not have followed had the parties been reversed. They also claimed Ginsburg’s dying wish was for her seat not to be filled until there was a new president.
Barrett’s nomination would give Republicans six Supreme Court seats, even though some justices nominated by Republican presidents have sided with the liberal justices in major decisions, such as Obamacare.
As The Daily Wire previously reported, while Barrett’s nomination is unprecedented due to its proximity to the election, the amount of time between her nomination and potential confirmation is not. Ginsburg died 45 days before the November 3 election. Three Supreme Court Justices — including Ginsburg herself — were nominated and confirmed in less time. Ginsburg was nominated by then-President Bill Clinton on June 22, 1993. She was confirmed on August 3, 42 days later.
“The time between the formal Supreme Court nomination of Sandra Day O’Connor and her final Senate confirmation was 33 days. (Aug. 19-Sep. 21, 1981). For John Paul Stevens, the formal process took only 19 days (Nov. 28-Dec. 17, 1975),” The Federalist’s Sean Davis tweeted last month. “There are 46 days until the election.”
Democrats also sought to use Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s 2016 words against him, without noting the obvious differences between the two situations, as The Daily Wire reported:
“The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president,” McConnell said after Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died in early 2016.
In 2016, however, the presidency was up for grabs, as President Barack Obama was finishing up his second term. A new president would enter office no matter what happened during the election. Obama was also hampered by the fact that Republicans became the majority in the Senate in 2014, in part by running on the judiciary. Republicans now control the White House and the Senate, meaning there is no conflict between the two institutions, as there was in 2016 when Democrats controlled the White House but Republicans controlled the Senate.