Amy Coney Barrett (pictured) will praise her mentor, the late Justice Antonin Scalia, and tell senators that courts ‘should not try’ to make policy in her opening statement before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday
Amy Coney Barrett will praise her mentor, the late Justice Antonin Scalia, and tell senators courts ‘should not try’ to make policy during her opening statement before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
A transcript of the remarks Barrett intends to deliver the first day of her confirmation hearing on Monday was released to the media on Sunday.
Barrett, 48, will speak to the Republican-led panel about how Scalia, whom she clerked for after law school, shaped not only her philosophies about the law, but also about family.
‘Justice Scalia taught me more than just law,’ her statement reads. ‘He was devoted to his family, resolute in his beliefs, and fearless of criticism.’
‘As I embarked on my own legal career, I resolved to maintain that same perspective,’ it continues. ‘There is a tendency in our profession to treat the practice of law as all-consuming, while losing sight of everything else. But that makes for a shallow and unfulfilling life.’
Barrett’s remarks came to light as Senator Lindsey Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a staunch Trump ally, predicted that Barrett will be confirmed no later than October 27.
Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, the South Carolina Republican said that a vote will be held a week after the hearing wraps up on October 22.
‘I believe she will be confirmed no later than Tuesday, a week before the election,’ Graham said.
‘That’s my hope. It will be up to Senator [Mitch] McConnell what do after the 22nd, but we can easily get her confirmed before the election.’
About a dozen activists dressed as characters from The Handmaid’s Tale staged a protest against Barrett’s confirmation hearing outside the Supreme Court on Sunday morning
Women dressed in red capes and bonnets protest Barrett’s upcoming confirmation hearing at the Supreme Court on Sunday
Praying for a SCOTUS block: Women’s rights activists are concerned Barrett’s confirmation would mean a reversal in women’s health rights – mainly that she would strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade and rid women of the right to an abortion
Among the key points in Barrett’s opening statement is her belief that policy decisions should be left up to political branches of government – Congress and the presidency – not the courts.
‘Courts have a vital responsibility to enforce the rule of law, which is critical to a free society,’ the Seventh Circuit judge’s statement says.
‘But courts are not designed to solve every problem or right every wrong in our public life. The policy decisions and value judgments of government must be made by the political branches elected by and accountable to the People.’
Women dressed as characters from The Handmaid’s Tale stand guard outside the Supreme Court on Sunday
One of the protester holds a sign that reads: ‘Vote while you still can!’
Activists opposed to the confirmation of President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, are dressed as characters from ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’
In addition to praising Scalia, who died in 2016, Barrett will pay tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whose seat she is hoping to fill.
‘When I was 21 years old and just beginning my career, Ruth Bader Ginsburg sat in this seat,’ her statement reads. ‘She told the Committee: ‘What has become of me could only happen in America.’
‘I have been nominated to fill Justice Ginsburg’s seat, but no one will ever take her place. I will be forever grateful for the path she marked and the life she led.’
Barrett will also talk about her seven children with husband Jesse Barrett, joking that she’s ‘used to being in a group of nine’.
She will say that she looks forward to bringing ‘a few new perspectives’ as the first mother of school-age children on the nine-member court.
In her opening remarks Barrett will pay tribute to Justice Antonin Scalia (left), whom she clerked for, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (right), whose seat she is hoping to fill
The confirmation hearing comes just three weeks before the 2020 presidential election and has been the subject of heated debate between Republicans and Democrats.
Republicans who control the Senate are moving at a breakneck pace to put Barrett on the Supreme Court before the election – in the face of fierce criticism from Democrats who say President Donald Trump should have waited until after the election to nominate Ginsburg’s replacement.
The GOP is hoping to have Barrett – a conservative – confirmed in time for a high profile challenge to the Affordable Care Act and any election-related challenges.
Should Democrats take back control of the Senate in the election, confirming Barrett would become much more difficult.
In his Fox News interview on Sunday, Graham criticized some Democrats who have threatened to pack the Supreme Court with liberal justices if Biden wins and his party takes over the Senate
Barrett would be Trump’s third Supreme Court justice. No Supreme Court justice has ever been confirmed so close to a presidential election.
Barrett’s nomination has been chaotic to say the least, worsened by suspicions that a coronavirus outbreak gripping the White House was sparked by an event where Trump ceremonially tapped her on September 26 in the Rose Garden.
The outbreak fueled Democrats’ cries that the confirmation hearing should be postponed because of the ongoing pandemic.
In his Fox News interview on Sunday, Graham criticized some Democrats who have threatened to pack the Supreme Court with liberal justices if Biden wins and his party takes over the Senate.
‘It changes America as we know it,’ Graham said. ‘If we lost the House, the Senate and the White House they’re going to change the rules of the Senate… so you only need a majority, anything coming out of the House sails through the Senate.
‘They’re going to expand the court from nine to whatever number they need to make it liberal… A liberal Supreme Court is a nightmare for business, it’s a nightmare for social policy.
‘If [Democrats] win, it’s not going to be about a health care debate, they’re going to structurally change the country.’
Biden has refused to reveal his stance on court-packing.
President Trump nominated Barrett in a Rose Garden ceremony on September 26 (pictured). That event was believed to have spawned a coronavirus outbreak in the White House
The country will get an extended look at Barrett over three days, beginning with her opening statement late Monday and hours of questioning Tuesday and Wednesday.
A mother of seven, Barrett will describe how she uses her children as a test when deciding cases, asking herself how she would view the decision if one of her children were the party she was ruling against.
‘Even though I would not like the result, would I understand that the decision was fairly reasoned and grounded in the law?’ she says.
A Catholic, she says she believes in the ‘power of prayer’, and she thanks those who have reached out with messages of support.
Ordinarily, she would get to show off her large family. But the White House event announcing her nomination, in which most of the audience did not wear masks, has been labeled a ‘superspreader’ for the coronavirus.
More than two dozen people linked to the September 26 Rose Garden event have contracted COVID-19 since then, including Republican Sens Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Mike Lee of Utah, both members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In an interview with the AP, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Sen Graham has ‘an obligation to be tested’ for COVID-19 before the hearing begins because he has been exposed to those with the disease.
Barrett and her family went maskless at the event. Barrett and her husband, Jesse, tested positive for the virus earlier this year and recovered, two administration officials have said.
Barrett and her family (pictured) went maskless at her nomination event on September 26
While senators will be able to participate remotely, it’s unclear whether anyone will do so. Most Democrats have said they will attend, and Tillis and Lee both said they hoped to be recovered and present.
Democrats already were enraged that Republicans are moving so quickly after their actions four years ago kept a seat open after Scalia died in February 2016, before that year’s election, and President Barack Obama nominated Judge Merrick Garland to take his place. The Senate did not grant Garland even a hearing, much less a vote.
Outside groups are pushing Democrats to make a strong case against what they call an illegitimate confirmation so close to the election, when people are already voting in some states.
‘The Democrats have a very strong hand to play politically, even if they do not have the votes to stop it,’ said Brian Fallon, executive director of Demand Justice, which advocates against right-leaning nominees.
‘The public is with them that this shouldn’t happen before the election.’
Democrats have made clear that they will press Barrett on health care, especially with the imminent Supreme Court arguments, and abortion, among other issues where her vote could push the court further to the right.
‘I intend to, and I think everybody else on the Democratic side, will focus on the fact that she is being pushed on to the Supreme Court just in time for the November 10 hearing on the Affordable Care Act,’ Sen Mazie Hirono (D – Hawaii) said. ‘That leaves millions and millions of families totally in the cold in regard to health care.’
Barrett also is the most openly anti-abortion Supreme Court nominee in decades and her vote could provide a majority to restrict if not overturn abortion rights. She also has voiced skepticism about some gun control laws.
Sen Richard Blumenthal (D – Connecticut), pointed to a dissenting opinion Barrett wrote last year in favor of allowing people convicted of nonviolent crimes to own guns. Federal law currently has a blanket prohibition on gun ownership by convicted felons. ‘She is extreme on this issue,’ Blumenthal said at a news conference.
Republicans will highlight Barrett’s belief in sticking to the text of laws and the original meaning of constitutional provisions, both Scalia trademarks as well.
Her personal story also will be a frequent topic of conversation when Republicans are asking questions.
‘She has proven a mom really can do anything,’ Sen Joni Ernst (R – Iowa) said after meeting with Barrett last week.