Democrats to Boycott Committee Vote on Amy Coney Barrett
WASHINGTON—Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee plan to boycott the panel’s Thursday vote on Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court, in protest of Republicans’ push to get President Trump’s pick confirmed before Election Day.
Judge Barrett was nominated last month by President Trump to fill the vacancy created by the death of liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and she is expected to solidify a conservative majority on the court if confirmed by the full Senate in the coming days. Democrats say that filling the seat should have been left to the winner of the presidential election, but could do little to stop Republicans after they decided to move ahead with the pick.
“Republicans have moved at breakneck speed to jam through this nominee," said the committee’s Democrats in a statement issued on Wednesday with the minority leader, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.). “Fearing a loss at the ballot box, Republicans are showing that they do not care about the rules or what the American people want, but are concerned only with raw political power. “
The Judiciary panel’s chairman, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), told reporters on Capitol Hill Wednesday night that there would be a vote Thursday without Democrats, even if that meant breaking committee rules.
Committee rules require the presence of two members of the minority party to conduct business and a majority to be “actually present” in order to vote on a nominee. There are 10 Democrats serving on the Judiciary Committee and 12 Republicans. But the chairman could override the rules if he wanted. The bigger impediment is a rule of the full Senate that requires a majority of the committee to be physically present in order to send a nomination to the Senate floor. Because a majority would be 12, all Republicans must show up in person for the nomination to proceed.
“I will move forward,” he said. Mr. Graham added that he wasn’t worried about the precedent it will set. “No, I worry about the games they’re playing,” he said.
“She sat there for two days, took all their questions,” Mr. Graham said of Judge Barrett. “She’s one of the most highly qualified people in the country. She deserves better than this. The political system is broken, I get that. Plenty of blame to go around. But she’s one of the best people ever nominated to the court. She deserves a vote and she’s gonna get one.”
Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) has indicated he will file for a required procedural vote on Friday, with a vote to advance the nomination possible as early as Sunday. A final confirmation vote by the full Senate is expected next week.
Throughout Judge Barrett’s hearing, Democrats argued that her confirmation would doom the Affordable Care Act, along with its protections for pre-existing conditions, if she was seated in time to hear a case about the ACA shortly after the election. Judge Barrett testified that while she had criticized the court’s 2012 opinion upholding part of the law, that didn’t mean she would strike it down. “I’m not here on a mission to destroy the Affordable Care Act,” she told the committee.
Democrats said that Republicans should have followed their precedent from 2016, when they declined to consider then-President Obama’s nomination of Judge Merrick Garland, saying it should be up to the next president. In the current dispute, Republicans argued that precedent only applies when the White House and Senate were controlled by different parties.
Democrats on Wednesday said they didn’t want to grant the process any further legitimacy by participating in the committee vote just twelve days before Election Day, with early and absentee voting in many states already under way.
Informed by reporters that Mr. Graham had said the vote would still move forward, Mr. Schumer responded, “We’re not giving the quorum they need to provide it. The rules require it.”