Barrett grilled on Roe v. Wade, voting rights, and more at Senate hearings
Barret discusses her piano playing skills with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on day 2 of Senate hearings. Screenshot from C-SPAN
During last week’s four consecutive days of Senate hearings, Democrat senators challenged Supreme Court Justice nominee Amy Coney Barrett on her political leanings as Republican opposition looked to expedite the confirmation process.
When questioned by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) about the president’s executive power to postpone the Nov. 3 election, Barrett declined to answer.
To Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), Barret said, “I certainly hope that all members of the committee have more confidence in my integrity than to think that I would allow myself to be used as a pawn to decide this election for the American people.”
Barrett, who signed a “right to life” letter in a 2006 advertisement while working at the University of Notre Dame Law School, similarly told Feinstein that she cannot “pre-commit” to any particular view on Roe v. Wade.
"I have an agenda to stick to the rule of law and decide cases as they come,” Barrett remarked.
Asked by Feinstein to indicate whether she agreed with conservative Justice Antonin Scalia’s views on marriage equality in the United States, Barret cited the “Ginsburg Rule.”
“Justice Ginsburg with her characteristic pithiness used this to describe how a nominee should comport herself at a hearing: no hints, no previews, no forecasts,” the judge replied.
In a testy exchange with Minnesota’s Sen. Amy Klobuchar about the legality of voter intimidation, Barret regarded the situation as “hypothetical.”
“I can’t answer questions like that,” Barrett countered when pressed for comment.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) followed by slamming Senate Democrats for their “radical” agenda, then shifted the focus onto Barrett’s family life and her children’s piano lessons. Nebraska’s Sen. Ben Sasse recalled the “friendship” between the late Justices Scalia and Ginsburg, to which Barrett responded with a brief anecdote.
“When the vacancy came up and during the Clinton administration, Justice Scalia recommended her,” Barrett said. “He knew that she had a different jurisprudential approach.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled an Oct. 22 vote on Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
