Last Updated on September 30, 2020
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), announced Sunday that he will refuse a meeting with Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Trump’s nominee to fill the US Supreme Court seat left vacant by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Schumer made his statement both on CNN and in a tweet Sunday, laying to rest any idea that Barrett will receive a fair and uncontentious Senate confirmation hearing.
“I believe, first, the whole process has been illegitimate,” Schumer told CNN Sunday. “And second, because she’s already stated that she is for overturning [Obamacare]. I will not meet with her.”
I am not going to meet with Judge Barrett. Why would I meet with a nominee of such an illegitimate process and one who is determined to get rid of the Affordable Care Act?https://t.co/7v4ES3HNM1
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) September 29, 2020
Schumer joins several other Senate Democrats, including Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who have announced they will not meet with Barrett.
Traditionally, nominees to the Supreme Court visit with each of the senators and especially the senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee. These meetings serve to quell concerns and dispel rumors.
The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), has announced he would start hearings for Barrett in mid-October. On that timetable a floor vote on Barrett’s nomination would be held in late October.
The filling of a vacant on the US Supreme Court is mandated by the US Constitution. That mandate does not include a hiatus in the event that vacancy comes in proximity to a General or Mid-Term Election.
While Democrats contend that no nomination or confirmation process should be undertaken until after the November election, a president’s authority to execute his duty to fill that seat extends to the full length of his term. Presidential terms are a full four years or 1,461 days, nothing less.
