Amy Coney Barrett Confirmed to Supreme Court; Democratic Politicians React to This 'Dark Day'
Amy Coney Barrett has been confirmed as the next Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States.
The Senate voted on Monday (October 26) and Barrett was confirmed with 52 votes to confirm. Senator Susan Collins of Maine was the only Republican senator to vote no on the confirmation after saying that she felt it was too close to the election to consider a nominee.
Democratic politicians, including Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, are among those speaking out just minutes after the vote took place.
“This is a dark day. But it’s important to remember why Republicans fought so hard to steal this Supreme Court seat. They’ve realized a truth that shakes them to their core: The American people are not on their side. And we’ll keep fighting until we take our democracy back,” Senator Elizabeth Warren tweeted.
You can read more reactions from Democratic politicians below.
Today Republicans denied the will of the American people by confirming a Supreme Court justice through an illegitimate process—all in their effort to gut the Affordable Care Act and strip health care from millions with pre-existing conditions.
We won’t forget this.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) October 27, 2020
Senate Republicans just pushed through a Supreme Court justice who will help them take away Americans' health care in the middle of a pandemic.
For them, this is victory.
Vote them out.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 27, 2020
Click inside to read what more Democratic politicians are saying…
This is a dark day. But it's important to remember why Republicans fought so hard to steal this Supreme Court seat.
They've realized a truth that shakes them to their core: The American people are not on their side.
And we'll keep fighting until we take our democracy back.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) October 27, 2020
Vote them out.
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) October 27, 2020
I am frustrated, and frankly, very angry. It did not have to be this way. By rushing to confirm this Supreme Court nominee, Senate Republicans openly and unapologetically defied the will of the American people—all to further their extreme, conservative agenda.
— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) October 27, 2020
I am going down to the Senate floor to vote AGAINST the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett.
We should not be voting on a Supreme Court justice—we should be voting on major COVID19 relief to protect working families.
We will make this the top priority of a Democratic Senate. pic.twitter.com/nIEOlwPuAr
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) October 26, 2020
It is a sad day for the Senate and for the Court. My Republican colleagues put the rule of ‘because we can’ over the traditions and precedents of the Senate, the principles we hold dear as an institution, and the integrity of the federal judiciary.
— Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) October 27, 2020
The truth is:
This nomination is part of a decades-long effort to tilt the courts towards the right to accomplish through the courts what Republicans could never accomplish through Congress
Democrats will never stop fighting for Americans’ health care and rights and freedoms
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) October 26, 2020
I will be voting against Judge Barrett’s nomination tonight. More than 225,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 & more than 60 million ballots have already been cast in the election that is just eight days away. This is not the time to be pursuing partisan power grabs.
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) October 26, 2020
Republicans do this because they don’t believe Dems have the stones to play hardball like they do. And for a long time they’ve been correct. But do not let them bully the public into thinking their bulldozing is normal but a response isn’t. There is a legal process for expansion.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 27, 2020