Intro:
On September 26, judge Amy Coney Barrett was nominated to be a Supreme Court Justice, one of the highest honors in the country. Barrett was selected to take over the role of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who died on September 18 from her battle with pancreatic cancer. While it was known that Ginsburg had many health issues, the news still shocked many. The decision by President Donald Trump has been very controversial given the upcoming election this November. However, members of the GOP have made clear that a president is elected for 4 years. Therefore, President Trump has made the decision to nominate Barrett for her spot in the Supreme Court.
Background:
Barrett was born on January 28, 1972, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her whole family is devout Christians and Barrett has been an ordained deacon since 1982. She ended up getting her college education at Rhodes College where she majored in English Literature. After finishing college, she was able to study law at Notre Dame on a full scholarship. Barrett was also the top student in her class. She went on to become a professor at multiple schools including Notre Dame and Virginia up until 2017. Later that year, she was nominated and confirmed into the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago by President Trump. Barrett is also married and is the mother to 7 kids, 2 of whom are adopted.
Confirmation Hearing Day 1:
After being pushed back due to the coronavirus, a confirmation hearing date was finally set for Monday, October 12. There were 4 planned days of the confirmation hearing before the vote for her confirmation. On the first day, Barrett took no questions while 22 members of the committee spent the morning trading accusations and arguments. These arguments involved the questioning of her ideological views and the timing of this nomination. Monday basically just provided opening statements for members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Confirmation Hearing Day 2:
Questioning for Barrett was underway and many democrats focused on her views on the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), abortion, and same-sex marriage. However, Barrett told members of the committee she would need to confer with her colleagues before making any decisions. The whole 12 hours was just Barrett being questioned about some of her stances on important issues.
Confirmation Hearing Day 3:
A powerful opening statement on the third day of the hearing was made by South Carolina Senator, Lindsay Graham. He praised Barrett for being “unashamedly pro-life and embracing her faith without apology”. That set the stage for the rest of the questioning. Many democrats including Amy Klobuchar questioned Barrett on her work in Bush v. Gore which was a case about the disputed 2000 election outcome. The topic of climate change was also mentioned, but Barrett refused to discuss it because a topic of political controversy is “inconsistent with the judicial role”. Lastly, to conclude the day, Barrett’s advice for young women was to “make decisions. Be confident. Know what you want. And go get it”. This statement marked the end of the third day and left the Senate Judiciary Committee to convene an outside panel of experts to argue for or against Barrett.
Day 4:
The fourth day of the hearing was very similar to the second and third days, but there was one very notable confrontation that took place. Dianne Feinstein (CA) took the time to praise and ultimately hug Lindsay Graham (SC) for a very smooth trial. Feinstein told Graham that it “was one of the best hearings”. After that statement, she walked over to Graham and the two shared a hug. While this seemed to anger many of her Democratic colleagues, this gesture represented that there is unity between the two groups.
The Voting: The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously voted to advance Amy Coney Barrett to advance her case to the Senate for the final vote. Democrats boycotted this hearing, but her case still went through due to the conservative majority. On Monday, October 26, Amy Coney Barrett was voted into to the Supreme Court by a vote of 52-48.
Closing Thoughts:
Sources:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/10/16/feinstein-hug-graham-hearings/
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/live-updates-amy-coney-barrett-nomination-moves-to-full-senate-vote
I thought you chose a great topic for your current event because this has been talked about so much recently. I also like the structure used because it helps to keep the paper and the readers thoughts organized.
ReplyDeleteI also liked the structure- it made it very readable. I hope that she proves to be a good and fair judge.
ReplyDeleteI really liked that you summarized what happened each day and the quote you included at the end. I'm glad she was confirmed and I'm sure she'll go a great job as a Justice.
ReplyDelete