President Trump walked with Judge Amy Coney Barrett to a news conference at the White House on Saturday.
Photo: Alex Brandon/Associated PressWASHINGTON—Republican senators, joined by some Democrats, are lining up meetings with Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett ahead of her confirmation hearing in two weeks, as GOP leaders moved ahead with plans to have President Trump’s pick on the bench by Election Day.
Democrats have continued to emphasize that adding another Trump-nominated justice to the court could put the Affordable Care Act and abortion rights in jeopardy, while Republicans have highlighted Judge Barrett’s qualifications and pre-emptively warned Democrats against making her Catholic faith an issue in the hearings.
“It’s going to be very, very hard to argue that she isn’t qualified for this,” said Sen. John Thune (R., S.D.) on Fox News. “And I think, in terms of her temperament, her judicial philosophy, she’s exactly the kind of justice you would want to see on the Supreme Court.”
Sen. Kamala Harris (D., Calif.), who is the Democrats’ vice presidential nominee, in remarks in Raleigh, N.C., stressed potential rulings on the ACA and abortion by Judge Barrett and other Trump nominated jurists. “These are the decisions that would upend Justice Ginsburg’s life’s work to uphold basic liberties of all Americans,” she said.
Ms. Harris, a member of the judiciary committee, indicated that she could meet with Judge Barrett.
“I’m sure that’s going to happen, we’ll see how it works out,” she said. “I haven’t made a plan one way or another.”
Judge Barrett’s first round of meetings with senators are scheduled for Tuesday, with sit-downs planned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) and at least three Republicans who sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee: Chairman Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), and Sens. Mike Lee (R., Utah) and Mike Crapo (R., Idaho), aides said. Meetings with Sens. Ben Sasse (R., Neb.) and Josh Hawley (R., Mo.), two other members of the committee that will hold hearings, were set for Thursday, aides said. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.), one of two Republican women on the panel, is set to meet with her on Friday, an aide said.
Judge Barrett won’t use a traditional “sherpa,” a White House-designated handler to accompany her to meetings. Instead, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said last week that he and White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who defended Mr. Trump during a Senate trial this year on impeachment charges, will play that role.
Mr. Graham has said that Judge Barrett’s confirmation hearing would start on Oct. 12 with opening statements from the committee members and the nominee, with questioning of the judge to begin on Oct. 13.
Democrats are divided over how to proceed with a nomination that they consider to be improper. Some are weighing meeting with the nominee, while others are declining. Democrats have conceded they can do little to stop the nomination from proceeding on the fast timeline Republicans have laid out.
Those opting out of meetings in protest include Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) and at least two members of the Judiciary Committee, Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) and Mazie Hirono (D., Hawaii). Other committee Democrats are undecided or haven’t disclosed their plans, with only Sens. Cory Booker (D., N.J.) and Chris Coons (D., Del.) so far confirming that they will sit down with the nominee, according to a survey of committee members by The Wall Street Journal.
Democrats say Republicans should have held off on a nominee, given how close the country is to the election, and leave the pick to the winner of the November presidential race. They point to Republicans’ decision in 2016 to decline to consider President Obama’s nominee. Republicans say 2020 is different, since both the White House and the Senate are controlled by the same party.
More on Judge Barrett’s Nomination
Ahead of the hearings, both parties traded jabs. Democrats warned that Judge Barrett would vote to overturn or restrict the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade that established a constitutional right to an abortion, and that she could lead to the Affordable Care Act being struck down. They also said that appointing her to the court now could enable her to decide the outcome of the presidential election if it were contested, as it was in 2000.
“One of the things I want to ask her is will she recuse herself,” from participating in a decision on the outcome of the elections, Mr. Booker said over the weekend on NBC News. “If she does not recuse herself, I fear that the court will be further delegitimized.”
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Republicans have demanded that Democrats stay away from attacking Judge Barrett over her Catholic faith, seizing on their handling of the judge’s 2017 confirmation to the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) told her that “you have a long history of believing that your religious beliefs should prevail” and said that “the dogma lives loudly within you.”
Ms. Feinstein later said she had great respect for the Catholic religion, but that Judge Barrett’s past writings raised questions about how she viewed connections between Catholicism and judicial rulings.
“How you practice your religion should not disqualify you from public service,” Ms. Blackburn said last week. “To think that there would be some who would feel that you have to be an atheist or a secularist in order to serve on the court, I think is inappropriate.”
Sen. Tim Kaine (D., Va.), who is Catholic, said that “they’re trying to invent a fake issue.” On Ms. Blackburn’s comments, he said, “I hope somebody called her out and said that’s just an absolute lie.”
—Tarini Parti contributed to this article.
Write to Siobhan Hughes at siobhan.hughes@wsj.com and Lindsay Wise at lindsay.wise@wsj.com
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Appeared in the September 29, 2020, print edition as 'Supreme Court Nominee Barrett to Meet Senators.'
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Senators Set Up Meetings With Supreme Court Nominee Amy Coney Barrett - The Wall Street Journal
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