President Trump watches Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas take the constitutional oath to Amy Connie Barrett during a ceremony at the White House on Monday night.
Nicholas Cam / AFP via Getty Images
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Nicholas Cam / AFP via Getty Images
President Trump watches Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas take the constitutional oath to Amy Connie Barrett during a ceremony at the White House on Monday night.
Nicholas Cam / AFP via Getty Images
The Senate voted 52-48 to confirm the appointment of Judge Amy Connie Barrett to the Supreme Court, roughly a week before Election Day and 30 days after she was nominated by President Trump to fill the late Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
At a White House ceremony following the Monday night vote, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas sworn in Connie Barrett.
President Trump spoke at the event, thanked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and called today a “momentous day” for America, the constitution and the rule of law. He also praised Barrett’s thoughtfulness and poise during the installation process. Several Republican senators also attended.
Barrett has yet to be sworn in.
While Senate Democrats have attempted to slow down the confirmation of Trump’s third nominee for the Supreme Court with various procedural maneuvers, the fact that Republicans control the Senate has always meant Barrett’s assertion.
“The Senate is doing the right thing. We’re pushing that nomination forward, and my colleagues, by tomorrow night we’ll have a new member of the Supreme Court of the United States,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R. He said on Sunday.
Democrats criticized Barrett’s nomination progress too close to Election Day, after the Republican-led Senate in 2016 refused to hold hearings for then-President Barack Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, nearly eight months before that year’s election.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York State described the nomination process as a “cynical seizure of power.”
“Almost every Republican in this room, led by a majority leader four years ago, refused to even consider the Supreme Court’s nomination for a Democratic president on the basis … that we must wait until after the presidential election because the American people deserve a vote in,” he said on Sunday, .
“Colleagues, this blatant hypocrisy is inevitable. As I said before, no twisted and distorted version of history will erase the stain that will remain forever with this Republican majority and with this Republican leader.”
Barrett’s nomination removed a procedural hurdle Sunday afternoon when the Senate voted to end debate on the nomination, days after Democrats on the Senate Judicial Committee boycotted the vote to present Barrett’s nomination.
The only Republicans to vote against the stroke proposal on Sunday are Senator Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
On Saturday, Morkowski reviewed her intentions, saying she intended to vote against procedurally pushing the nomination forward, but would vote to confirm Barrett on Monday.
“While I oppose the process that led us to this point, I do not hold it against it, as an individual who passed the challenge with grace, skill and humility,” she said.
Collins faces a tough re-election battle, and said after Ginsburg’s death in September that whoever wins the presidential election must fill the vacant Supreme Court position.
The 48-year-old judge’s assertion reinforces the court’s conservative majority, potentially shaping the future of abortion rights and healthcare law for generations.
During a campaign event in Tallahassee, Florida, on Saturday, Vice President Pence said he wanted to return to Capitol Hill in time for the Monday vote.
“As the vice president, I am the president of the Senate,” Pence said. “I will be in the chair because I will not miss this world vote.”
Ultimately he did not attend the vote in person. His presence was going to be purely symbolic anyway, as Pence wasn’t expected to need to cast a tie-breaking vote.
Democrats opposed Pence’s plan in light of recent positive tests for the Coronavirus of two senior employees in Pence’s orbit, and they had similar concerns about Senator Kelly Loeffler, GA, whose two employees had tested positive for the coronavirus.
A spokesman for Loeffler said on Saturday that the senator had tested negative for the coronavirus on Friday.
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