Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) attacked Judge Amy Coney Barrett of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on Monday, indicating that Democrats fear her appointment could be politically problematic.
Barrett is widely viewed as one of President Donald Trump’s top picks for the U.S. Supreme Court seat vacated by the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy. Last week, Breitbart News reported that Trump is considering up to seven names, including Barrett, before his July 9 deadline. That list was thought to have been whittled down to four by Monday. Barrett was reported to have been among those four, who were reported to have been interviewed by the president.
On Monday, Schumer launched a tweetstorm against Barrett:
Amy Coney Barrett is a judge on the Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit & on @realDonaldTrump’s pre-approved list for SCOTUS. She passed his “litmus test” on overturning Roe v. Wade & striking down the ACA. Here’s where she stands on Americans’ big issues:
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) July 2, 2018
Barrett attacked the Supreme Court’s decision upholding the Affordable Care Act, which has helped millions of people secure health insurance coverage. https://t.co/JXJAbCmvN4
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) July 2, 2018
Barrett also fought efforts to ensure that all women have access to contraceptives. https://t.co/voWM3KjeGr
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) July 2, 2018
She disagrees with “stare decisis” – the idea that cases like Roe v. Wade are settled law in the courts – and instead has said she wants “space” for “reargument.” https://t.co/JcWyOx4uZl
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) July 2, 2018
The bottom line: Judge Barrett has given every indication that she will be an activist judge on the Court. If chosen as the nominee, she will be the deciding vote to overturn Roe v. Wade and to strike down pre-existing conditions protections in the ACA. #WhatsAtStake
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) July 2, 2018
Arguments that Republican nominees will end abortion and access to contraception are nothing new. Schumer’s attack includes one innovation: the idea that she would vote to overturn Obamacare, which is arguably in the process of imploding anyway.
Other Democrats joined in, attacking Barrett for her religious Catholic beliefs — a theme repeated from the fight over her confirmation to the Seventh Circuit last year, when Democrats appeared to apply an unconstitutional religious test to the nominee.
A religious group in which members take an oath of loyalty to each other and are supervised by a male “head” or female “handmaiden.” That looks like a cult. Now she wants a seat on SCOTUS for the sole purpose of overturning Roe v. Wade. The answer is NO.https://t.co/i3lb7nVJPU
— Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) June 30, 2018
But Schumer’s real problem with Barrett may be political, as the Washington Post‘s Seung Min Kim pointed out Monday:
Three Dems voted in favor of Barrett — Donnelly, Kaine, Manchin. Interestingly, Heitkamp was a no. (Collins and Murkowski voted for her)
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) July 2, 2018
Sens. Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Joe Manchin (D-WV), and Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) are all from states that Trump won, and all are facing re-election this year. All three voted to confirm Justice Neil Gorsuch last year. Barrett is also from Indiana, the home state of Donnelly — and of Vice President Mike Pence.
Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowsi (R-AK) are both considered moderate votes. Schumer may hope to sway Collins, because she has specifically declared she would not vote to confirm a justice that would overturn Roe v. Wade. But Schumer’s critics note that Barrett has never actually said that she would do so.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.