Barrett confirmed to Supreme Court
After the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on September 18, President Donald Trump’s nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, was confirmed to the Supreme Court on October 26, after a Senate vote 52-48. It was the closest a high court confirmation has been to a presidential election, and the first confirmation to receive zero support from the minority party. In this case being the Democratic party.
Amy Coney Barrett speaks in front of Congress at a hearing. Her confirmation came amidst heated controversy.
The confirmation of Barrett solidifies the conservative majority in the Supreme Court, with five out of nine Justices holding conservative viewpoints. Nominated by President Trump eight days after the passing of Justice Ginsburg, Barrett marks his third Justice placed in the Supreme Court, following Justice Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.
“Trump’s trying to put as many people as he can in offices before the election,” Mr. Ryan Hartman said.
Justice Barrett’s confirmation came amidst controversy, particularly from Democrats, with concerns regarding one of the desires of the late Ginsburg.
“My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed,” Justice Ginsburg said on her deathbed to her granddaughter.
Her desire to be replaced after the presidential election boils down to her values: The president chosen by the people should make nominations. Not to mention, there would be a flip of party control in the Supreme Court, over to her opposition, with a conservative pick.
This raised eyebrows and talk of hypocrisy in the Republican Party by many Democrats. Senator Chuck Schumer, the Senate Minority Leader, and other members of the Democratic Party were quick to point out events from 2016, where Republicans blocked the nomination of Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court by former President Barack Obama, which was eight months prior to the 2016 election. At the time, Republicans had concerns, wanting to wait until after the election, so the people could influence the opinion of the Court.
"Nearly every Republican in this chamber led by the majority leader four years ago refused to even consider the Supreme Court nomination of a Democratic president on the grounds... that we should wait until after the presidential election because the American people deserved a voice in the selection of their next Justice," Senator Schumer said. Regardless of Democrats’s outcries, Justice Barrett took the bench the following day.
photo by Leyla Dumke