One week before the election, the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett for the Supreme Court is a big win for Trump and Republicans.
On Monday night The Senate confirmed Amy Coney Barrett with a partisan vote of 52-48. A short time later Supreme Court Associate Justice, Clarence Thomas, administered the first required oath at the White House Rose Garden. Barrett will start her work as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court on Tuesday after the second oath ceremony.
Barrett has been serving on the seventh circuit court of appeals since 2017 and teaching at Notre Dame Law School. During the confirmation period, Barrett explained that she would be independent and she had no agenda but following the constitution.
All of the Democrats in The Senate voted against and all Republicans except Susan Collins voted for confirmation. Senator Collins object to voting a Justice so close to the election. Confirmation caused anger from the Democrats because in 2016, at Barrack Obama’s final year, the Republican majority Senate refused to give a hearing to Justice nominee Merrick Garland because it was an election year.
Barrett thanked Senate Majority Leader McConnell and Judiciary Chairman Graham as well as the White House staff and Department of Justice for their support and guidance for confirmation period. She vowed to separate her personal political leanings from her judicial decisions.
Why is Barrett’s Confirmation Important?
First of all, the Supreme Court now has a 6-3 conservative majority, and Justices serve for a lifetime. This means problematic issues like abortion, civil and voting rights, the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, will likely be resolved in favor of Republicans. Secondly, there will be an election soon and Trump repeatedly said that if he loses the election he may contest the results. And the final ruling of contested election will be made by Supreme Court. This means we can have a long and volatile election period.
