Progressive politicians, including the far-left members of the “Squad,” immediately cried out for an expanded Supreme Court after the GOP-led Senate voted to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.
The Senate voted to confirm Barrett to the Supreme Court on Monday evening, 52-48. The historic vote makes Barrett the third Trump-appointed judge to join the highest court in the land. Democrats immediately unleashed a host of threats to pack the court, should they win the White House and Senate.
“We are going to take back the White House & Senate next week with a resounding mandate from the people to fight back against Trump’s illegitimately stacked judiciary,” Squad member Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) said. “We must expand the Court if we’re serious about the transformational change the people are crying out for”:
We are going to take back the White House & Senate next week with a resounding mandate from the people to fight back against Trump’s illegitimately stacked judiciary. We must expand the Court if we’re serious about the transformational change the people are crying out for.
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) October 27, 2020
“Expand the court,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) remarked, and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) agreed.
“Remember that Republicans have lost 6 of the last 7 popular votes, but have appointed 6 of the last 9 justices,” she said, adding that expanding the court would “fix this broken system and have the court better represent the values of the American people”:
Expand the court. https://t.co/hYC5OCeKQq
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) October 27, 2020
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), who voted against Barrett’s confirmation, said that the GOP has “denied the will of the American people by confirming a Supreme Court justice through an illegitimate process.”
“We won’t forget this,” the vice presidential hopeful added:
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
Other lawmakers expressed disgust. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) said Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “has forever sealed his legacy as the man who broke the US Senate” and vowed that the confirmation “will be remembered and responded to”:
With this vote to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to #SCOTUS, Mitch McConnell has forever sealed his legacy as the man who broke the US Senate.
This egregious power grab will be remembered and responded to.
— Rep. Gerry Connolly (@GerryConnolly) October 27, 2020
Trump & @SenateGOP rushed this confirmation through because they are scared. The very Senators who blocked Obama’s nominee a year before the 2016 election just voted to fill Justice Ginsburg’s seat a week before a presidential election. This is hypocrisy.https://t.co/zql0bX6B0M
— Rep. Tony Cárdenas (@RepCardenas) October 27, 2020
If tonight’s confirmation means anything, it means we have to defeat Donald Trump, flip the Senate, expand our control in the House, and then make the Republican Party a permanent minority party in this country.
— David Cicilline (@davidcicilline) October 27, 2020
Tonight may have been the final page in a sad chapter in the Senate, but I refuse to allow it to be the first chapter of our nation turning back the clock on fifty years of progress. Tonight we mourn the process, tomorrow we fight to change it.
— Congressman Bill Keating (@USRepKeating) October 27, 2020
Next week we vote to take back our government.
Then the fight begins to protect the ACA and a woman’s right to choose.
Make no mistake, we will not forget the hypocrisy and moral relativism that brought us here.
This is not the end, this is the beginning. Be ready. https://t.co/tyL2W6xArK
— Yvette D. Clarke (@RepYvetteClarke) October 27, 2020
This sham of a process by Senate Republicans was infuriating, awful and illegitimate.
My heart sinks thinking of all the real progress Amy Coney Barrett could roll back during her lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court. But our fight is far from over.https://t.co/7I7Js8zXrW
— Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) October 27, 2020
Tonight’s vote was a vote against women, people with pre-existing conditions, the LGBTQ+ community, and the will of the American people.
This decision will have a devastating impact on our country for a generation.
My full statement ⬇️https://t.co/rTUWKSLVAP
— Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (@RepMGS) October 27, 2020
No. pic.twitter.com/Wnn20uYtVB
— Senator Bob Menendez (@SenatorMenendez) October 27, 2020
I voted against Judge Barrett's confirmation. Never in modern times has the Senate taken up a SCOTUS nomination so close to an election. By rushing this process, Republicans have chosen to ignore the will of the American people.
My full statement: https://t.co/mgHJH6kvCx
— Senator Ben Cardin (@SenatorCardin) October 27, 2020
I voted no today because I refuse to be a party to Mitch McConnell’s power grab, to the hyper-politicization of the Senate and the courts, and to denying the American people a voice in this process while voting for the next President is already underway.
— Senator Doug Jones (@SenDougJones) October 27, 2020
The Senate’s preoccupation with this Supreme Court power grab is deeply irresponsible.
The number one thing on lawmakers’ agenda right now should be providing more relief to struggling Americans. https://t.co/N25OOAqNU7
— Rep. Suzan DelBene (@RepDelBene) October 27, 2020
Justice Clarence Thomas subsequently swore Barrett in as a Supreme Court associate justice at a ceremony at the White House Monday evening. At the ceremony, Barrett promised to perform her duties to the best of her abilities and vowed to preserve the United States Constitution.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.